

\ -OlV 





REV. THEOPHILUS LINDSEY, M.A. 



Engraved especially for\ 



Uhe Centenary Volume. 



/ 7 C / 

MEMOIRS 

OF THE LATE REVEREND 

THEOPHILUS LINDSEY, M.A. 

INCLUDING 

A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF HIS WORKS ; 

TOGETHER WITH 

XECDOTES AND LETTERS OF EMINENT PERSONS, 
HIS FRIENDS AND CORRESPONDENTS : 

ALSO 

A GENERAL VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF THE UNITARIAN 
DOCTRINE IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA. 

By THOMAS BELSHAM, 

MINISTER OF THE CHAPEL IN ESSEX STREET. 

Simulacra vultus, imbeciila ac mortalia ; forma mentis, teterna, 
quam tenere et exprimere tuis ipse moribus pessis. Tacitus, 
Care .... Vale. At veniet felicius aevum 
Quando iterum tecum, sim modo dignus, ero. Lowth, 



THE CENTENARY VOLUME. 



LONDON: 
WILLIAMS AND NORGATE, 
14, HENRIETTA STREET, COYENT GARDEN; 

AND 

20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH. 

1873. 



LONDON : 

PRINTED BY WOODFALL AND KINDER, 
MILFORD LANE, STRAND, W.C. 



7 ~' r ' ;. > ^DiS 



d 

PREFACE TO THE CENTENARY VOLUME. 



It was in November, 1773, that this venerable man, Theophilus 
Lindsey, when over fifty years of age, and in the enjoyment of 
a rich living in the Church of England, surrounded also by many 
friends, and with the certain prospect of a bishopric, resigned all 
the comforts of an elegant home, and all chances of preferment, 
for the sake of what he esteemed to be Christ's truth and a good 
conscience. He became a Dissenter when dissent was very much 
despised, and Dissenters generally shunned. He also openly 
avowed his Unitarian views when these sentiments were nearly 
everywhere abhorred. From a commanding sense of duty he left 
the Church when he knew not where to find a home for himself 
and wife ; and sold his library and some other effects to supply 
for a time the necessaries of life. In 1774 he came from the 
North to London, and founded Essex-street Chapel — probably the 
first distinctly named Unitarian congregation in England. And 
now, after the lapse of one hundred years, we confidently affirm 
that Lindsey's theological views are becoming daily more widely 
known and honoured; and we are inclined to believe they will 
remain as a pyramid for ever on the landscape of religious truth, 
to guide into all truth ; while his integrity, like a star, will lead 
onward the theological inquirer to be sincere, not to palter with 
words in a double sense, or to tamper with conscience. It is 
surely better to suffer affliction for what we esteem to be truth, 
than to enjoy the emoluments or positions of dishonesty. This 
reprint is now published to advance the highest moral and 
religious interests of society at the suggestion of Mr. Samuel 
Sharpe, of Highbury, London, whose zeal for the Unitarian 
Christian faith is only surpassed by his admiration of the sincere 
and upright of all denominations. It is possible that this volume 
may induce other members of the Unitarian Church to republish, 
in a cheap form, some valuable religious works which are little 
known to the present generation. The best monument that 
any one can leave behind — next to the memory of a good life — is 
a good book that may reach the homes of all our people. 

ROBERT SPEARS. 

73, Angell Road, London 
November , 1873 



PREFACE. 



The publication of this tribute of respect to the memory 
of a highly venerated friend has been delayed beyond expectation, 
partly by a necessary attention to other publications, but chiefly by 
the time which was occupied in the perusal of letters and other 
documents, which far exceeded what was antecedently supposed to 
be requisite. 

The events which occur in the life of a scholar and a pastor 
seldom possess novelty and variety sufficient to excite public 
attention. Those of Mr. Lindsey's life, indeed, were of no 
common complexion. But the chief design of publishing this 
Memoir is to exhibit the picture of an eminently virtuous, pious, 
and disinterested rnind in circumstances of great difficulty and 
perplexity, as an example to others who may find themselves in 
similar difficulties, and as an encouragement to sacrifice every 
secular consideratiomin the cause of religious truth, and to prefer 
the performance of duty and the approbation of conscience to 
all the honours and emoluments which the world can offer. It was 
also the author's design to mark the progress of that glorious 
cause which lay nearest to the heart of this venerable man, that of 
a loi!g-lost and almost-forgotten truth, the proper Unity of God, 
and the supreme unrivalled undivided homage which is due to the 
Father alone : a cause for which he voluntarily sacrificed all 
his secular possessions and expectations, to the promotion of 
which he devoted all his labours, and in testimony to which 
he would, if needful, have cheerfully laid down his life. Happily, 
he lived in an age which was enlightened and liberal beyond 
all that preceded it : and though some alarm was excited, and 
some risk incurred, when he first opened a chapel for Uni- 
tarian worship, he met with no real impediment or molestation 
in the discharge of his official duties : and he lived to see the 
time, when, in consequence of the increasing knowledge and 
liberality of the age, owing in great measure to his unwearied and 



PREFACE. 



V 



successful exertions, the profession of Unitarianisrn ceased to 
be regarded either as singular or hazardous. 

It was also the design of the author to communicate some 
information relative to other generous advocates of the same 
righteous cause, some of whom were also sufferers for truth. 
Among these are Dr. William Robertson, Mr. Tayleur of Shrews- 
bury-, and, above all, Dr. Priestley, whose letters cannot be perused 
by any feeling and intelligent reader without great interest 
and sympathy with the venerable exile : and it cannot but excite 
astonishment in every serious and reflecting mind, that such 
a person should not have been allowed to end his days in peace in 
his native country. But Providence had wise and good euds 
to answer by permitting this afflicting event, some of which 
are sufficiently apparent; so that Dr. Priestley might justly say to 
his enemies and persecutors, as Joseph said to his brethren, 
"It was not you that sent me hither, but God/' 

The author very much regrets that the respectable relict of Mr. 
Lindsey did not live to see this work complete, and to give 
her sanction to the narrative. But it may be some satisfaction 
to the reader to know that the first eight chapters were written 
some time ago, and were read over as they were finished to 
]\Jrs. Lindsey, who expressed her kind approbation of them, 
and her decided attestation to the truth of the facts stated in them. 
And the author flatters himself that no circumstances will be 
found in the remainder of the narrative which are not supported 
by sufficient testimony. 

By far the greater part of the materials from which this Memoir 
is composed were supplied to the author by Mrs. Lindsey, for the 
express purpose of selecting from them what might be interesting 
and useful. To other friends and correspondents of Mr. Lindsey 
he is indebted for the rest; and on this account he acknowledges 
his particular obligations to the Rev. William Turner, of New- 
castle, and the Rev. Dr. Toulmin, of Birmingham. Of these 
materials, he trusts, it will appear that he has not made an indis- 
creet use. There is no living friend of Mr. Lindsey, from whose 
correspondence he has made more copious extracts than from the 
letters of the Rev. Dr. Freeman, of Boston, in New England ; but 
these are of a public nature, relating wholly to the state and pro- 
gress of the Unitarian doctrine in America; and they do great 
credit to the ability and the piety of the writer, who, it is hoped, if he 
should chance to hear of this Memoir, will pardon the liberty which 



Vi 



PREFACE. 



the author has taken with the letters which he addressed to his 
venerable friend. 

This Memoir will be of little interest to any but those to whom 
a calm impartial inquiry into the sacred Scriptures is a considera- 
tion of supreme importance, and by whom the firm undaunted 
profession of Christian truth is regarded as among the first of 
duties. To these the author hopes it will not be unacceptable ; 
to their candour he commends it : and if they derive any portion 
of that satisfaction and advantage from the perusal, which he has 
done from the composition of the Memoir, they will not have read, 
nor he written, in vain. 

Essex House, 
July 16th, 1812. 



POSTSCRIPT TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

The Author has republished the Memoirs of Mr. Lindsey with- 
out any material alteration, excepting the addition of an Appendix 
to the Ninth Chapter. This Chapter having been republished 
separately in America, gave rise to a warm controversy at Boston 
and in its vicinity ; which, though it does not make it necessary 
to introduce any considerable change in the state of facts, has ren- 
dered it expedient for the Author, in his own vindication, to show 
that he has not used his terms in any new or unusual sense ; and 
much less that he has affected to set himself up as the head of a 
religious party. 

Essex House, 
March 23d, 1820. 



CONTSN T S. 



CHAPTER L 

Account of Mr. Lindsey from the time of his birth to his settlement 
at Catterick, in Yorkshire. 

Mr. Lindsey born at Middlewich, p. 1. — early noticed and patronized by Lady 
Betty and Lady Ann Hastings, p. 2. — and by Lady Huntingdon, p. 2. — Anecdotes 
of Lady Huntingdon, p. 2, note. — Mr. L educated under Mr. Barnard at Leeds, p. 3. 
— spends his vacations with Lady Ann Hastings at Ashby Place, p. 3. — where his 
mother when she bteaine a widow lived and died, p. 3. — Mr. L. admitted at St. 
John's College, Cambridge, where he greatly distinguished himself by his proficiency 
and good morals, p. 3. — and is intrusted by the Bishop of Lin oln with the superin- 
tendancy of his grandson, Richard Reynolds, Esq., which laid the foundation of long 
and mutual friendship, p. -4. — Mr. L. ordained by Bishop Gibson, and presented by 
Sir Gr. Wheeler to a chapel in Spital Square, p. 5. — is recommeuded by Lord Hun- 
tingdon as domestic chaplain to the Dake of Somerset, p. 5. — treated with great 
kindness and friendship by the Duke and his family, p. 5. — accompanies Lord AYark- 
worth to the continent, p. 5. — and upon his return is presented by the Earl of North- 
umberland to the living of Kirk by Whiske, p. 6. — becomes acquainted with Arch- 
deacon Blackburne, p. 7. — at the desire of Lord Huntingdon Mr. L. resigns the living 
of Kirkby for that of Piddletown, p. 7. — marries Miss Elsworth, p. 7. — begins to 
entertain scruples concerning the Trinity, p. 8. — and forms a design of retiring from 
the church, p. 9. — declines the solicitations of the Duke and Dutchess of Northum- 
berland to accompany them to Ireland, p. 10. — by the interest of Lord Huntingdon 
he is permitted to exchange the living of Piddletown for the vicarage of Catterick, 
p. 10. — Mr. L., now become a Unitarian, reconciles himself to subscribing the Arti- 
cles, and using the Liturgy, p. 11. — his reasons for this conduct stated by himself, 
p. 12. — shelters himself under Dr. Wallis's account of the Trinity sanctioned by the 
University of Oxford, p. 14. — but upon reflection does not approve his own conduct, 
p. 17. — Mr. Lindsey's manner of performing his parochial duties at Catterick, where 
he continues ten years, p. 17. — Mrs. Cappe's testimony to his zeal and success, p. 18. 



CHAPTER IT. 

From Mr. Lindsey's settlement at Catterick, to his resignation of that 
vicarage, a.d. 1778. 

Mr. Lindsey becomes dissatisfied with his reasons for conformity, p. 20.— he is in- 
troduced by Archdeacon Blackburne to Mr. Turner of Wakefield, ard Dr. Priestley, 
p. 22. — State of Mr. L. s feelings, p. 24. — Dissenters not likely to receive him cor- 



viii 



CONTENTS. 



dially, p. 24. — Cowper's censure and Orton's applause of Mr. L.'s conduct, p. 24, 
note. — Mr. L. not satisfied with altering the church service, p. 26. — Resolves upon 
resignation of his living, p. 27. — is encouraged by the example of the ejected 
ministers, p. 27. — and of Dr. W. Robertson, p. 28. — Mr. L. defers his resignation on 
account of the clerical petition, p. 29. — -Origin of this petition, p. 30. — Mr. L.'s 
great exertions to procure signatures to it, p. 30. — the number small, but respecta- 
bility great, p. 32. — Mr. Lee's account of the unfavourable aspect of the case, p. 33. 
— and of the manner in which it was supported in and received by the House of 
Commons, p. 34. — Sir George Savile's speech from Dr. Furneaux's notes, p. 36, note. 
— Mr. Lindsey' s account of the same debate, p. 38. — Mr. Pickard and Dr. Furneaux 
take encouragement from what passed to summon the general body of dissenting 
ministers to apply to Parliament for relief from subscription, p. 39. — Account of the 
Rev. Edward Pickard, late minister of Carter Lane, p. 39, note. — Dissenting 
ministers succeed in their application, p. 42. — Mr. L. confirmed in his resolution by 
reading Calamy, p. 42. — determines that he will delay no longer, p. 43. — his state 
of mind, p. 44. — preaches the assize sermon at Ycrk, p. 46. — visits Alnwick Castle, 
p„ 46. — reflections upon this visit, p. 47. — Mr, L. communicates his intention to 
Archdeacon Blackburne, p. 48. — to Dr. Jebb, p. 49 — and to Dr. Markham, his dio- 
cesan, p. 50. — declines Mr. Turner's proposal of recommending him to the Octagon 
Chapel at Liverpool, p. 51. — takes leave of two of his chapels, p. 52. — and is pre- 
vailed upon to publish his Farewell Discourse, p. 52, note. — Distress of his parishioners 
at parting with their minister, p. 53, note. — Some account of Dr. Chambers, p. 53, 
note. — Poverty of Mr. Lindsey, p. 54. — Dr. Markham dissuades Mr. L. from resigning 
his living, but in vain, p. 54. — Mr. Lindsey resigns his vicarage, p. 55. — and leaves 
Catterick in the month of December, 1773, p. 55. 

CHAPTER III. 

From Mr. Lindsey's resignation of Catterick, to his opening the 
Chapel in Essex-street. 

Mr. Lindsey treated with coldness by former friends, p. 56. — Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey 
visit Mrs. Harrison, p. 56. — Mr. Turner, p. 56, — and Mr. Mason, p. 57. — Mr. L. 
violently attacked by Dr. W. Cooper, p. 57, note. — and defended by Mr. Cappe and 
Mr. Turner, p. 57, note. — sells his library for his subsistence, p. 58. — visits Dr. 
Disney, p. 58, — and transcribes Dr. S. Clarke's alterations in the Liturgy, p. 58. — 
visits Dr. Chambers, at Achurch, where he finishes his Apology, p. 58. — hopes for co- 
operation from Dr. Jebb, p. 59. — and has great promises of support in London, p. 59. 
— visits Mr. Reynolds at Paxton, p. 61. — where be hears of the death of his friend, 
Thomas Hollis, Esq., p. 61, note. — Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey arrive in London, p. 61. — 
visit at Dr. Ramsden's, and take lodgings in Featherstone -buildings, p. 61. — sell 
their plate to provide necessaries, p. 61. — Mr. L. soon meets with friends, p. 62. — 
Samuel Shore, Esq., of Norton Hall, p. 62. — Robert Newton, Esq., of Norton House, 
p. 62, note. — Mr. Johnson secures the house in Essex-street, p. 63. — Mr. Lindsey's 
state of mind, p. 64. — declines an invitation to Norwich, p. 64. — improves upon Dr. 
Clarke's Liturgy, p. 65. — Obstructions threatened from the civil power, p. 65. — the 
magistrates object to licensing the chapel, p. 67. — Mr. Lee demands it as a matter of 
right, p. 69. — and obtains a promise of it from the bench, p. 69. — which promise 
was not fulfilled, p. 69, note, 

CHAPTER IV. 

From the first opening of the Chapel, to the purchase of the premises, 
and the erection of the present building in Essex-street. 
The chapel opened, p. 70. — Account of it by Mr. Lindsey, p. 70. — by Mr. Lee, 



CONTENTS. 



IX 



p. 70, note. — Lord Le Despenser subscribes to it, p. 71. — How far Mr, L. receded 
from the church service, p. 71. — Analysis of the sermon preached and printed on 
the occasion, p. 72. — Mr. L. in a manner pledges himself not to introduce contro- 
versy into the pulpit, p. 73. — Evil consequences of equivocal preaching stated and 
exemplified, p. 74, note. — Success of doctrinal instruction, p. 74, note. — Mr. Lind- 
sey obliged to violate his rule, p. 75. — Early hearers of Mr. Lindsey, p. 76. — Mr. 
and Mrs. Rayner, p. 76. — Sir Gfeorge Savile, p. 77. — Michael Dodson, Esq., p. 77. — 
Robert Martin Leake, Esq. and others, p. 77. — Sir Barnard Turner's letter and 
liberal contribution, p. 77. — Mr. L.'s great satisfaction and peace of mind, p. 78. — 
Mr. L.'s conduct gives offence to some of the associated clergy, p. 79. — he is accused 
of mercenary views, p. 80. — his defence, p. 81. — Mr. Lindsey' s Apology attacked by 
Mr. Burgh, p. 82. — whose work is approved by Mr. Mason and Dr. Hurd, p. 83, 
note. — he is also attacked by Mr. Bingham and Dr. Randolph, p. 83. — to all which 
he replies in the Preface to his Sequel, p. 83. — Mr. Lindsey publishes the Sequel to 
his Apology, p. 83. — Analysis of that elaborate work, p. 84. — Mr. L. desires a col- 
league, p. 85. — applies to Dr. Jebb, who declines the proposal, p. 86. — Moderate 
income and liberal spirit of Mr. L., p. 86, note. — Generosity of Mr. Smith, now 
Lord Carrington, and others, p. 86, note. — Mr. L. applies to other clergymen to join 
him in the chapel service, but without success, p. 86. 



CHAPTER V. 

From the erection of the building in Essex-street, to the appointment 
of Dr. Disney to be the colleague of Mr. Lindsey in 1783. 

House and chapel erected in Essex-street, p. 87. — Mrs. Lindsey* s activity and 
zeal, p. 87, note.— Brief account of William Tayleur, Esq., of Shrewsbury, p. 88. — ■ 
of Kichard Kirwan, Esq., P.R.S.I., p. 90. — Mr. L. in quiet possession of his dwelling- 
house and chapel, p. 91. — seized with a dangerous fever, p. 92. — his reflections upon 
recovery, p. 92. — The Author's reflections upon his first hearing Mr. Lindsey preach 
in 1779, p. 93. — Mr. L. no party writer, but a zealous whig in politics, and opposer 
of the American war, p. 94. — publishes his two Dissertations on the Preface to St. 
John's Gospel, and on Prayer to Christ, p. 95. — with a Postscript by Dr. Jebb, p. 96. 
— Mr. L. publishes The Catechist, p. 97. — regrets the title, which has misled many 
as to the intention of the work, p. 97, note. — Analysis and specimen of The Cate- 
chist, p. 97. — Dr. Disney unexpectedly offers to join Mr. L. in his labours in Essex- 
street, p. 99.— the proposal embraced with joy by Mr. L., p. 99. — Mr. L.'s liberality, 
p. 99. — and Mrs. Rayner' s extraordinary generosity upon this occasion, p. 99. — Mr. 
L.'s communication to Dr. Toulmin, p. 100. — Great prosperity of the Unitarian 
congregation at Birmingham, under the care of the Rev. Dr. Toulmin and the Rev. 
J. Kentish, p. 100, note. 

CHAPTER YL 

Mr. Lindsey publishes the Historical View. Some account of Dr. 
William Robertson. Society for promoting the knowledge of the 
Scriptures. 

Mr. L. publishes an Historical View of the Unitarian Doctrine and Worship, 
p. 101. — the execution different from the original plan, p. 101, note. — to be regretted 
that he did not accomplish his design of treating on the pleas of Unitarians for attend- 
ing Trinitarian worship, p. 102, note. — Design of the work, p. 103. — Analysis of 
its contents, p. 103. — Bishop Law's letter of thanks, p. 104, note. — sends Mr. L. a 
present of a new edition of his Theory, purged from prejudices relative to the pre- 



X 



CONTENTS. 



existence of Christ, p. 105, note. — Dr. Robertson's death, p. 105.— interesting 
account of that venerable professor, by Thomas Hollis, Esq., under the signature of 
Pierce D elver, p. 105. — Bishop of Ferns' s (afterwards Primate Robinson) remarks 
upon Dr. Robertson's scruples, p. 106. — Dr. R. appointed by the Merchant Taylors' 
Company to the Free Grammar School at Wolverhampton, p. 107. — Extraordinary 
generosity of a country clergyman, Rev. W. Hopkins, to Dr. R., p. 107, note. — Dr. 
R. applied to by Mr. L. to become his colleague in Essex-street, p. 108. — declines it on 
account of a threatened prosecution at Wolverhampton, which he determines to brave, 
p. 109. — his admirable letter upon the occasion, p. 109. — reflections, p. 110. — happy 
termination of the affair, p. 111. — Apology for Dr, R.'s violent expressions against 
the Catholics, which do not apply to present times, p. 112, note. — Institution of a 
Society for promoting the knowledge of the Scriptures, p. 113. — Plan drawn up by Dr. 
Jebb, p. 113. — does not succeed according to expectation, p. 114. — publishes two 
volumes of Commentaries and Essays, p. 114. 

CHAPTER VII. 

Controversy with Robert Robinson. Analysis of the Vindiciae Priest- 
leianae. Misunderstanding and reconciliation with Dr. Price. 

Rev. Robert Robinson publishes a Plea for the Divinity of Christ, p. 115. — 
plausible and candid, but weak and trivial, p. 115. — much applauded both by church- 
men and dissenters, p. 116. — Dr. Furneaux and Dr. Kippis not dazzled by it, p. 117. 
— Archbishop Blackburne thinks it unanswerable, p. 117. — Mr. Lindsey urged to 
reply to it, p. 119. — publishes an Examination of Mr. Robinson's Plea, p. 120. — 
Analysis of the work, p. 120. — complete success of the Reply, p. 121. — Mr. Robin- 
son stung by the answer, p. 121. — but convinced, and becomes a decided Anti- 
trinitarian, p. 122. — Mr. Robinson no enemy to Scripture criticism, though he some- 
times expresses himself unguardedly, p. 122, note. — Uncertainty as to Mr, R.'s final 
sentiments, but probably perfectly Unitarian, p. 123. — certainly no Arian, p. 124, 
note. — Mr. R.'s friends do not allow that he was a proper Unitarian, p. 125. — Mr. 
Lindsey publishes his VindiciaB Priestleianse, p. 126. — The reasons which induced him, 
p. 126. — Analysis of the work, p. 127. — Mr. Kirwan's testimony to Dr. P. s talents, 
p. 127. — Mr. L.'s character of P. Courayer, p. 129. — and of Bishop Butler, p. 130. — 
Bishop Butler's letter to the Dutchess of Somerset, and Her Grace's remarks, p. 130, 
note. — Mr. L.'s testimony to the benevolence of the Creator, p. 131. — Offensive 
remark with respect to Dr. Price, p. 132. — Dr. Price's letter, p. 132. — and Mr. 
Lindsey's reply and retractation, p. 133. — the misunderstanding cleared up, p. 134. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Analysis of Mr. Lindsey's second Address. Dr. Watts an Unitarian. 
Mr. Lindsey's alarm at Dr. Priestley's bold assertions, and ultimate 
conversion to his doctrines. 

Mr. Lindsey publishes a second Address to the Students of Oxford and Cambridge, 
p. 135. — Analysis of the work, p. 135. — proves Justin Martyr to have been the in- 
ventor of the commonly-received doctrine of the Logos, p. 136. — Catalogue of false 
readings published separately, p. 138. — Dr. Watts believed by many to be a Socinian, 
p. 139. — probably did not believe himself to be one, p. 139. — his last papers 
destroyed contrary to the judgment of Dr. Doddridge, .p. 140. — his pathetic address 
to the Deity, p. 140. — Dr. Lardner believed Dr. Watts to be a proper Unitarian, 
p. 141, note. — he assigns his reasons in a letter to the Rev. Samuel Merivale, p. 140, 
note. — Mr. L. disapproves of Dr. Priestley's language concerning the inspiration of 



CONTENTS. 



xi 



Moses and of Christ, p. 142. — his letter to Mr. Cappe, p. 143. — Dr. Priestley de- 
fended, p. 143. — and freedom of discussion vindicated, p. 144. — Mr. L. further 
disapproves of Dr. Priestley's rejection of the Miraculous Conception, p. 14S. — and 
repeatedly urges Mr. Cappe to reply, p. 148. — Mr. Cappe declines the task which he 
had given reason to expect he would undertake, p. 151. — Mr. L., upon further 
consideration, inclines to Dr. P.'s hypothesis, p. 151. — Mr. Cappe's final judgment 
unknown, p. 151, note. 

CHAPTER IX. 

Unitarian Liturgy adopted by the congregation at the King's Chapel, 
at Boston, in New England. Mr. Lindsey corresponds with Dr. 
Freeman, Mr. Vanderkemp, &c. Progress and present state of the 
Unitarian churches in America. 

Mr. Lindsey is informed that an Unitarian Liturgy is adopted at Boston in New 
England, p. 153. — Mr. (now Dr.) Freeman expresses regret that it is not more per- 
fect, p. 153, note. — a new edition, cleared from exceptionable phrases, printed in 
1811, p. 154, note. — Dr. Freeman at a loss for episcopal ordination, p. 154. — 
ordained by his own society after a form recommended by Gfovernor Bowdoin, 
p. 155. — an example of Bishop Seabury's mode of ordination satisfies the scruples 
of Mr. Freeman's friends, p. 156, note. — Dr. Styles' s reply to a claim of prece- 
dence by Bishop Seabury, p. 156, note. — Mr. Cary associated as a colleague with 
Dr. Freeman, p. 156. — Mr. Cary dies of a decline in England, p. 157, note. — 
Mr. L. presents Dr. Priestley's works to Harvard College, p. 157. — Men of emi- 
nence in America Unitarians in principle, p. 157, note.— Unitarian congregation- 
formed at Portland, under Mr. Oxnard, p. 158. — and at Saco, under the auspices 
Apf Mr. Thatcher, a gentleman of great respectability, p. 159. — Hopes formed 
^ which events have not justified, p. 160. — Mr. Bentley of Salem a declared Uni- 
tarian, p. 161. — Progress of the Unitarian doctrine, p. 161. — Dr. Freeman's ex- 
cellent letter to Mr. Lindsey upon Mr. L.'s resignation, p. 162. — apprehensive that 
he may have been too sanguine in his expectations, p. 164.— Unitarianism in, 
Northumberland and Philadelphia, p. 164. — at Oldenbarneveld under Mr. Vander- 
kemp and Colonel Mappa, p. 165. — Case of the Rev. J. Sherman, minister of 
Mansfield in Connecticut, p. 165. — becomes an Unitarian, p. 165. — his reasons 
for professing his sentiments, p. 165, note. — is approved by a great majority of 
his congregation, p. 166. — but disowned by the association of ministers, p. 166. 
— and by a Mutual Council dismissed from his church, p. 168. — Form of Inde- 
pendent churches, p. 168, note. — Reflections, p. 170. — Mr. Sherman's friends wish 
to retain him, p. 172. — but he removes to Oldenbarneveld, p. 172. —from which 
situation he retires in 1810, p. 175. — the similar case of the Rev, Abiel Abbot, 
expelled by the Consociation under a charge of heresy in 1811, p. 171, note.— 
appeals to a Mutual Council, p. 171, note. — Dr. Osgood's just remarks, 171, note. 
— the Mutual Council dissolves the connexion between Mr. Abbot and his congre- 
gation, p. 172, note. — Mr. Abbot's prudence and moderation, p. 172, note.— State 
of Unitarianism in the district of Maine, p. 176. — Promising state of the Uni- 
versity of Cambridge under the direction of Dr. Kirkland, p. 176. — Grriesbach's 
Greek Testament, published by the Rev. J. E. Buckminster, p. 176. — and the 
Improved Version by Mr. VV. Wells, p. 176. — Curious account of the present 
state of the town of Boston, in a letter from a gentleman in America to his 
friend in England, p. 177, note. — Reflections, p. 179, note. 

Appendix to Chap. IX. — Controversy excited at Boston by the facts stated in 
the preceding chapter, p. 180. — Professed Unitarians in America disclaim being 
such in Mr. B.'s sense of the word, p. 181. — Mr, B, u;-:es the word in the sense 



xii 



CONTENTS. 



of Lardner, Lindsey, and Priestley, p. 181. — Arians in the proper sense of the 
word maintain a plurality of Grods, p. 182. — in express contradiction to Scripture 
they deny worship to their Maker, p. 183. — and confine it to their Maker's 
maker, a being unknown to the sacred writers, p. 183. — Extraordinary fact that 
Arians now deny worship to their Maker, p. 183, note. — Different feelings of the 
author when an Arian, p. 183, note.— Remarks on practical and doctrinal preach- 
ing, p. 184. — Success of Unitarianism in America, p. 185. 

CHAPTER X. 

Account of the New College at Hackney. The Author's introduction 
to and intimacy with Mr. Lindsey and Dr. Priestley. London 
Unitarian Society. Western Unitarian Society. Eeverend Timothy 
Kenrick. Unitarian Fund Society. 

Origin of the New College at Hackney, p. 136. — zealously supported by the 
Dissenters, p. 186. — causes of its failure, p. 187. —remaining funds, p. 188. — 
the author of the Memoir becomes connected with the Institution at Hackney, 
p. 189. — brief account of the Institution supported by the bequest of William 
Coward, Esq., p. 189, note. — The author appointed divinity tutor at Daventry, 
p. 189, note. — mode of lecturing on the Unitarian controversy, p. 190. — the effect of 
it upon his pupils, p. 191. — and himself, p. 191. — becomes an Unitarian, and 
resigns his office, p. 192. — introduces himself to Mr. Lindsey, p. 193. — appointed 
a tutor at Hackney, p. 194. — becomes intimate with Mr. L., p. 194. — Dr. 
Priestley, driven from Birmingham by the riots, is chosen successor to Dr. Price, 
p. 194. — the author's frequent intercourse with Mr. Lindsey and Dr. Priestley, 
p. 195. — Unitarian Society formed, p. 196. - disputes concerning the preamble, 
p. 197. — first annual dinner, p. 199. — political toasts, p. 199.— animadverted upon 
by Mr. Burke in the House of Commons, p. 200. — the Society disavows all political 
views, p. 200. — its growing prosperity, p. 200. — Western Unitarian Society formed, 
p. 201. — brief account of the late Rev. Timothy Kenrick, p. 201.— his zeal and 
success as a minister, tutor, and an advocate for truth, p. 202. — his sudden and 
lamented decease, p. 202. — his family and his posthumous works, p. 202. — South- 
ern Unitarian Society, p. 203. — Unitarian Fund Society, p. 203. — its great success, 
p. 204. — present state of the London Unitarian Society, p. 204. 

CHAPTER XI. 

Analysis of the Conversations upon Christian Idolatry. The Duke of 
Grafton corresponds with and visits Mr. Lindsey, and attends Uni- 
tarian worship. A "brief account of the progress of the Duke's 
opinions, and of his reasons for seceding from the Established 
Church. Eefiections. 

Circumstances which gave rise to the Conversations upon Christian Idolatry, 
p. 205. — account of the characters introduced, p. 205. — Analysis of the work, 
p. 206. — Trinitarians acknowledge themselves to be Idolaters, if their doctrine is 
false, p. 208, note. — Remarks upon the conduct of the dialogue, p. 211. — Duke 
of Grafton attends Mr. Lindsey's ministry, p. 211. — The Duke's reasons for 
inquiry, p. 212. — becomes an Unitarian, and corresponds confidentially with Mr. 
Lindsey, p. 213. — requests permisson to visit Mr. L., p. 213. — continues firm to 
his principles to the end of life, p. 213. — takes memorandums of the progress of 
his mind, p. 213. — of which he prints a few copies for the use of his family and 



CONTENTS. 



Xlll 



friends, p. 213. — continues to hold communion with the Established Church, 
p. 214. — his reasons for this conduct, p. 215. — remarks, p. 215. — the Duke's 
humility, p. 216. — perplexed about the doctrine of atonement, p. 216. — believes 
Christ can hear and help, but disapproves of prayer to him, p. 217. — rejects the 
perpetual inspiration of the apostles and evangelists, p. 217. — and the doctrine of 
original sin, p. 217. — Grod reconciled by repentance, p. 218. — unintelligible doc- 
trines not essential, p. 218. — natural arguments for the immortality of the soul 
unsatisfactory, p. 218. — the Duke vindicates his secession from the church, p. 218. 
— Reflections upon the fortitude and strength of principle in the Duke of Grafton, 
p. 220. 

CHAPTER XII. 

Mr. Lindsey publishes a new and reformed edition of his Liturgy ; 
resigns his office in Essex-street Chapel. His Farewell Sermon 
printed, bat not preached. Interests himself for those who suffered 
by unjust prosecutions. Cases of Fyshe Palmer, Muir, and Winter- 
hotham. 

Mr. Lindsey 's resolution to resign his office at the age of seventy, p. 222. — pub- 
lishes a new edition of his reformed Liturgy, omitting the Apostles' Creed, and the 
three invocations in the Litany, p. 223. — preaches and publishes a sermon upon the 
occasion, vindicating the alterations, p. 223. — this Liturgy changed for Dr. Disney's, 
p. 225. — but resumed, p. 225. — Mr. Lindsey's letter of resignation, p. 226. — he 
recommends Dr. Disney as his successor, p. 226. — Reply of the Trustees, p. 226. — 
Mr. Lindsey publishes a sermon upon the occasion, which his feelings would not 
permit him to preach, p. 227 — On the great importance of the Unitarian doctrine, 
p. 229. — interesting conclusion, p. 230. — Mr. L. justified in resigning, though in 
the vigour of his powers, p. 231. — still continues to reside in Essex House, p. 232 ; 
note. — Mr. Lindsey interests himself for those who were under State prosecutions, 
p. 232. — Singularly hard case of Mr. Fyshe Palmer and of Mr. Muir, p. 232. — their 
sentence reprobated abroad, p. 234. — legality of it questioned in the House of Com- 
mons, p. 234. — sent among felons to Botany Bay, p. 235. — and treated with great 
rigour, p. 235. — Mr. Fyshe Palmer dies on his return, p. 236. — Rev. W. Winter- 
botham's unjust sentence, p. 237. — his sufferings mitigated by the kindness of Mr. 
Lindsey, Mrs. Rayner, and others, p. 227. — Mr. W. acknowledges his great obliga- 
tion to Mr. Lindsey, p. 237, note. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Dr. Priestley emigrates to America. His reasons for this measure. 
Mr. Lindsey's judgment in the case. Dr. Priestley's Farewell 
Sermon at Hackney. Letters to Mr. Lindsey from Gravesend, 
Deal, and Falmouth. Arrives at New York. Reception in America. 

Dr. Priestley determines upon emigration to Ameiica, p. 238. — assigns his reason 
in the Appendix to his Fast Sermon, p. 239. — Remarks, p. 241. — Dr. Priestley 
hopes to return to England, p. 240, note. — Mr. Lindsey approves Dr. P.'s resolution 
of going to America, p. 242. — Dr. Priestley takes his passage on board the Sansom, 
p. 243. — delivers an excellent Farewell Discourse at Hackney, p. 243. — Analysis of 
the discourse, p. 243. — expresses, in conversation with the author of the Memoir, 
his firm expectation of the speedy personal appearance of Christ, p. 248, note. — 
passes his last Sunday in Essex-street, and hears an impressive discourse from Dr. 



XiV 



CONTENTS. 



Toulmin, p. 248. — Dr. Priestley goes to Gravesend, p. 248. —Letter from Gravesencl, 
p. 248.— from Deal, p. 249.— from off Falmouth, p. 250.— from New York, p. 251. 
— giving an account of his passage, p. 251. — and his reception in America, p. 253. — 
Letter from Mr. Henry Wansey to Mr. Lindsey, giving some account of Dr. Priest- 
ley's reception at New York, p. 254, note. — Dr. Priestley accompanies his son to 
Philadelphia, p. 256. — and to Northumberland, p. 256. — projected settlement on the 
Loyalsoc, p. 254, note. — Dr. Priestley refuses offers of preferment, and fixes his resi- 
dence at Northumberland, to the great regret of his friends, p. 256. — but with an 
ultimate beneficial effect to the cause, p. 256. — he keeps up a regular correspondence 
with Mr. Lindsey, p. 257. — his death, p. 257. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Dr. Priestley's Reply to Paine's Age of Reason ; reprinted in England 
by Mr. Lindsey, with a Preface in vindication of Dr. Priestley's 
character. Mr. Lindsey republishes another work of Dr. Priestley's, 
with a short preface. Dr. Priestley's acknowledgment of Mr. Lind- 
sey 's kindness. Analysis of Mr. Lindsey's last publication, entitled 
Conversations upon the Divine Government. 

Paine's Age of Reason makes great impression in America, p. 258. — Dr. Priestley 
replies to it immediately after his arrival, p. 259. — Mr. Lindsey reprints the work 
in England, with a preface in defence of Dr. Priestley, p. 259. — Analysis of the pre- 
face, p. 259. — Dr. Priestley esteemed and beloved by many, p. 260. — hostility to 
him accounted for, p. 260. — Bishop Hurd's illiberal reflections upon the Unitarians 
censured, p. 261. — Mrs. Barbauld's elegant verses addressed to Dr. Priestley, p. 261, 
note. — Falsehoods circulated concerning him in England, p. 262. — and America, 
p. 262. — Mr. Lindsey's reflections on the prostituted talents of the editors of the 
British Critic in giving currency to foul calumnies, p. 263. — Dr. Priestley's acknow- 
ledgments to his friend, p. 264, note. — Mr. L. reprints Dr. Priestley's treatise on 
the knowledge which the Hebrews had of a future state ; with a preface, p. 264. — 
Dr. Priestley's thanks, and testimony to the value of religion, p„ 265. — Mr. Lindsey 
publishes his Conversations on the Divine Government, p. 265. — dedication, p. 265. 
— design of the work, p. 266. — First Conversation, p. 266. — Photinus argues that 
miracles result from general laws, p. 267. — Remarks, p. 267. — Second Conversation, 
p. 268. — Photinus argues argues the goodness of the Divine Grovernment, p. 268. — 
Third Conversation, p. 269. — Photinus defends the Mosaic history, p. 269. — The 
author rather too peremptory on this point, p. 269. — Extermination of the Canaanites 
considered, p. 270. — Imperfection of heathen philosophy, p. 271. — Superior excel- 
lence of the Gfospel, p. 272. — depraved by Mohammed, who was at first sincere, 
p. 272. — Moral state of the world better than it is sometimes represented, p. 273. — 
Archbishop King's original and valuable observations upon this subject, p. 274, note. 
— Fourth Conversation most important, p. 275. — Marcellinus wishes to see it proved 
that natural and moral evil are of Divine appointment, and permitted for good, 
p, 275. — Photinus undertakes the proof, p. 275. — Volusian is delighted with the 
conclusion, and laments the errors of Frederic and D'Alembert, p. 276. — Photinus 
endeavours to reconcile this doctrine with the responsibility of man, p. 277. — a 
different solution proposed, p. 278. — In the Fifth Conversation Synesius recants his 
errors concerning the Mosaic history, p. 280. — refutes the doctrine of eternal tor- 
ments, p. 280. — and defends the theory of universal salvation, p. 281. — in which 
Photinus concurs, p. 281. — In the Sixth Conversation Synesius argues to the satisfac- 
tion of his friends against the existence of such a being as the devil, p. 282. — The 
author's remarks upon Mr. Lindsey's last work, p. 284. 



CONTENTS. 



XV 



CHAPTER XV. 

Mr. Lindsey suffers a paralytic seizure, but recovers. Dr. Priestley's 
reflections upon the situation of his friend, and upon Mr. Lindsey's 
last work. Mr. Lindsey interests himself in the appointment of 
the author to the chapel in Essex-street. Encourages and assists 
the Improved Version. His gradual decline and death. Conclusion 
of the Work. 

Mr. Lindsey is seized first with a slight and afterwards with a violent paralytic 
affection, p. 286. — from which he recovers so far as to he able to finish his last pub- 
lication, p. 286. — Dr. Priestley's feelings upon the occasion expressed in a letter to 
Mrs. Lindsey, p. 286. — and in another to Mr. L., p. 288. — his joy at receiving a 
letter in Mr- L.'s own handwriting, p. 290. — Reflections of the author upon this 
correspondence, p. 291. — Letter from Mr. Jefferson to Dr. Priestley, p. 292, note — 
Dr. P.'s letter to Mrs. Lindsey, and testimony to the distinguished excellence of that 
lady's character, p. 294 — Plan of a subscription to defray the expense of Dr. Priest- 
ley's Church History, and Notes on the Scriptures, p. 295, note. — Bishop of Elphin's 
letter and liberal subscription, p. 295, note. — Letter of thanks from the Rev. C. 
AVyvill for Mr. L.'s Conversations on the Divine Government, p. 298. — Dr. Priestley's 
death, p. 298. — Mr. Lindsey interests himself in the appointment of the writer to 
Essex-street Chapel, on the resignation of Dr. Disney, p. 299. — and renews his at- 
tendance at the chapel, p. 299. — Mr. L. takes great interest in the publication of 
the Improved Version of the New Testament by the Unitarian Society, p. 299. — Dr. 
Priestley's original plan of a continually improving translation of the Scriptures, in 
1789, p. 299. great progress made in the undertaking, p. 301. — stopped by the de- 
struction of Dr. Priestley's papers at the Birmingham riots, p. 301. — Unitarian So- 
ciety take up the design, p. 302. — resolve, at the General Meeting in 1806, to carry 
it into immediate execution, p. 302. — reasons for adopting Archbishop Newcome's 
Translation as the basis, p. 303. — Bishop of Killala's expostulation with the author 
of the Memoir upon this subject, p. 304, note. — reasons for the introduction of ex- 
planatory notes, p. 305. — zeal with which this undertaking was supported, p. 306. 
— liberal subscriptions by Mr. Lindsey, the Duke of Grafton, and Mr. Prime, p. 306. 
— Mr. AYilliam Smith distributes many copies with a judicious preface for the use of 
students, p. 306, note. — Objections to the improved Version, and answers, p. 307. — 
Mr. Lindsey approves the execution of the work, and takes great pleasure in reading 
it, p. 311. — His health declines rapidly, p. 311. — his last sickness, p. 311. — and 
death, p. 312. — Brief recapitulation of his character, p. 313. — Reflections of the 
author, p. 313. — Death of Mrs. Lindsey, p. 314. — and of Mrs. Jebb, p. 314. 



XVI 



CONTENTS. 



APPENDIX. 

I. Letters of the Duchess of Somerset to Mr. Lindsey, p. 315. 
II. Letters of the Countess (afterwards Duchess) of Northumberland, p. 325. 

III. Letters of Archdeacon Blackburne, p. 328. 
Letter from Thomas Hollis, Esq., p. 333. 

IV. Letter of Hans Stanley, Esq., refusing to support the Petition of the Clergy, 

p. 334. 

Correspondence between Mr. Lindsey and Dr. Markham, then bishop of Chester, 
on Mr. Lindsey's resignation, p. 338. 
V. Letters to Mr. Lindsey upon his resignation of the vicarage of Catterick, 
p. 341. 

VI. Letters of Thomas Hollis, Esq., under the assumed name of Pierce Delver, 
p. 345. 

VII. Letters of the Rev. William Hopkins, p. 347. 
IX. Letter of P. Courayer, p. 354. 
X. Letter from William Wells, Esq., with some account of the present state of 
the Unitarians in New England, p. 356. 
XI. Letter of the Rev. Thomas Fyshe Palmer, giving an account of his cruel treat- 
ment on board the Surprize, p. 359. 
XII. Letters from Dr. Priestley to Mr. Lindsey; and from Thomas Jefferson, Esq., 

President of the United States, to Dr. Priestley, 362. 
XIII. List of Mr. Lindsey's publications, p. 381. 



MEMOIRS 



OF THE LATE 



REVEREND THEOPHILDS LINDSEY. 



ACCOUNT OF MR. LINDSEY FROM THE TIME OF HIS BIRTH TO 
HIS SETTLEMENT AT CATTERICK, IN YORKSHIRE. 

The Reverend Theophilus Lindsey was born at Middlewich, in 
Cheshire, June 20, 1723, O.S. His father, Robert Lindsey, de- 
scended from an ancient family in Scotland, was a mercer in that 
town, and also possessed a lucrative concern in the salt works in 
that neighbourhood. He was a man of excellent character, and 
originally in easy circumstances ; but through the imprudence of 
an elder son by his first wife, whom he had admitted into partner- 
ship, his property was considerably reduced. His second wife, 
the mother of the subject of this Memoir, was a lady of exemplary 
character. Her maiden name was Spencer; she was distantly 
related to the Marlborough family, and previously to her marriage 
had lived upwards of twenty years in the family of Frances, 
Countess of Huntingdon. By Mr. Robert Lindsey this lady had 
three children, the youngest of whom was named after his god- 
father Theophilus, Earl of Huntingdon, the son of the above- 
mentioned lady, and the husband of Selina, Countess of Hunting- 




CHAPTER I. 



B 



2 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



don, so well known as the zealous and liberal patroness of Mr. 
Whitfield and the Calvinistic Methodists. # 

Lady Betty and Lady Ann Hastings, the kind friends of Mrs. 
Lindsey, who had lived with them from their childhood, soon 
remarked the ingenuous temper, the promising talents, the love of 
learning, and the serious spirit of her youngest son, and took 
him under their own immediate patronage. From a school in the 
neighbourhood of Middlewich, at which he had made consider- 
able proficiency in proportion to the advantages which he enjoyed, 
they removed him to Leeds, and placed him under the care of 
the Reverend Mr. Barnard, master of the free grammar-school in 
that town ; a gentlemen of great eminence both for learning and 
piety, who devoted himself wholly to the honourable and arduous 
duties of his profession ; and to whose superior talents and exem- 
plary assiduity his grateful pupil was wont to ascribe, under Divine 
Providence, not only all his literary attainments, but almost all 

* With this very respectable lady Mr. Lindsey lived many years in habits of friend- 
ship. And though after his secession from the established church, and the public 
avowal of his theological principles, all personal intercourse was for many years sus- 
pended, yet when Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey, in the summer of 1786, called upon Lady 
Huntingdon at Talgarth, in Wales, they were received, as he expresses it in a letter to 
a friend, " most graciously, as usual." Not only did she direct that every possible 
attention should be shown them in their visit to her Academical Institution in the neigh- 
bourhood, but she earnestly pressed them to prolong their stay. With her old and much 
respected friend she had much serious conversation ; and seemed particularly impressed 
with a hint which Mr. Lindsey threw out, in reference to a dear and only surviving son, 
of the safety of whose final state her ladyship entertained the most painful apprehen- 
sions, that possibly the state of future punishment might be only a process of severe 
discipline, and that the greatest sinners might ultimately find mercy. And when they 
parted, she took a most affectionate leave of them, and gave them her kind maternal 
benediction, expressing at the same time her hope of meeting them in a better world. 
" Some good I hope is done," says Mr. L. to his correspondent above referred to, " where 
much is intended, by this praiseworthy lady, who has, for full forty years, devoted her 
fortunes, time, and labours to promote what she believes to be the truth : though I 
cannot but hope it will be a place for more rational inquirers after she drops into her 
grave." This venerable lady was at that time " turned eight)', but hale and sensible 
for that age." And though she might for a moment be soothed by a glimpse of hope 
of the ultimate restoration of a darling child, it was not to be expected that Mr. Lind- 
sey 's conversation would make any permanent impression upon her mind. He after- 
wards speaks of his aged friend as " still in the depths of mysticism and methodism, 
though she was become more moderate towards those who held different opinions." 
Nor does it appear that any material change ever took place in Lady Huntingdon's 
religious views, though the abuse of her generosity by some persons in whom she had 
placed a confidence which they did not deserve, made it necessary for her in some 
measure to restrain her munificence, and gave rise to a report that she had deserted the 
Methodist connection. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



3 



that was honourable and right in his personal character. To the 
edifying instructions of Mr. Barnard, in concurrence with the 
impressions of his earlier domestic education, Mr. Lindsey was 
indebted for that ardent love of truth, that firm integrity, that 
purity of spirit, that early and deeply-rooted principle of piety, 
by which he was so eminently distinguished. 

His vacations were usually spent at the mansion of his noble 
patronesses, in the vicinity of Leeds, during the life of Lady 
Betty Hastings, and, after her decease, at Ashby Place, near Ashby 
de la Zouch, in Leicestershire, where Lady Ann then fixed her 
residence. To this house, likewise, Airs. Lindsey removed, together 
with her only daughter, at the invitation of Lady Ann Hastings > 
after the decease of her husband in the year 1742, where she 
continued to reside with her noble and pious friend till her death, 
which took place a.d. 1747, after having been gratified by the 
accomplishment of the first wish of her heart, that of seeing her 
son in the pulpit. Over the remains of this exemplary lady a 
neat monument was erected in Ashby churchyard, with an in- 
scription, purporting that " while a child she had been the play- 
fellow, and a widow the friend, of Lady Ann Hastings, who 
erected that monument to her memory, and was a sincere and 
affectionate mourner for her death." 

With these advantages, public and domestic, for improvement 
both in learning and piety, in concurrence w r ith a temperament 
cast in the happiest mould, " having," as he expresses it in the 
modest account of himself annexed to his Apology on resigning 
the vicarage of Catterick, " been impressed from early youth with 
a love of truth and virtue, a fear of God and desire to approve 
himself to him, which never left him;" and having been well 
instructed in classical literature, Mr. Lindsey was well qualified 
for the university, and was admitted as a student at St. John^s 
College, in Cambridge, May 21, 1741, in the eighteenth year of 
his age. Here his literary attainments and exemplary conduct 
soon attracted general notice and admiration, And when the 
late learned and pious Dr. Reynolds, Bishop of Lincoln, being 
desirous of sending his grandson, a promising youth of fifteen, to 

b 2 



4 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



the university, inquired after some senior student under whose 
care he might place him, to assist his studies and to protect his 
morals at that early age, Mr. Lindsey was the person recom- 
mended for the office. This circumstance laid the foundation for 
a firm and tender friendship, founded upon a thorough knowledge 
of each other's character, and a consequent mutual affection and 
esteem, which continued without interruption to the end of Mr. 
Lindsey's life; and the recollection of which is cherished by the 
venerable and grateful survivor as one of the best blessings which 
Heaven bestowed upon him. Mr. Reynolds, after having finished 
his education at the university, was taken by the late Lord Sand- 
wich as his private secretary to Aix-la-Chapelle, where he remained 
during the negotiation of the celebrated treaty which takes its 
name from that city. After his return to England, declining the 
engagements of public life, he retired to his estate at Little 
Paxton, in Huntingdonshire. There he still resides (1812); and 
amidst the high estimation in which he is universally and de- 
servedly held, both for his public and his private virtues, he justly 
regards it as not the least of his honours to be known as one 
of the earliest friends and warmest admirers of the venerable 
Theophilus Lindsey.* 

Having passed through his academical course and taken his 
degrees with high reputation, Mr. Lindsey was elected a Fellow 
of St. John's College in April, 1747; and had he chosen to devote 
himself to literary pursuits, he was well qualified to have attained 
considerable distinction; but his chief ambition was to be a minis- 
ter of the gospel. Accordingly, he relates of himself that, "after 
the usual time spent at school and in the university, he entered 
into the ministry of the gospel, out of a free and deliberate 
choice, and with an earnest desire to promote the great ends of it. 

• * u I recollect," says this gentleman in a letter with which he favoured the writer of 
this Memoir, " that Mr. Lindsey excelled in college exercises ; that he was singularly 
pious; that he attended the chapel prayers, and monthly received the sacrament. His 
manners were mild and gentle, and his conversation was of a serious turn, but agreeable, 
and sought by his fellow-students. I have reason to believe that he obtained the 
highest honours on taking his degree, I mean Wranglership, but this I cannot positively 
assert." Mr. Reynolds died in 1814. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



5 



And having been educated in the established church, he did not at 
that time feel any scruples either concerning the use of the 
liturgy, or subscription to the articles." 

Having been ordained by Dr. Gibson, the learned and exem- 
plary Bishop of London, he was in the twenty-third year of his 
age presented to a chapel in Spital Square by Sir George Wheeler 
of Otterden Place, in Kent, at the recommendation of his noble 
sister-in-law, the unwearied friend and benefactress of Mr. Lind- 
sey, Lady Ann Hastings. 

In a short time after his settlement in London, Algernon, Duke 
of Somerset, being in want of a discreet and pious clergyman to 
officiate as his domestic chaplain, received such a character of 
Mr. Lindsey from Francis, Earl of Huntingdon, the nephew of 
Lady Ann Hastings, that he immediately invited him into his 
house. To this amiable nobleman and his accomplished lady, 
better known as the Countess of Hertford, the honoured pa- 
troness of genius and virtue, he recommended himself to such a 
degree, by his prudent and exemplary conduct, and by the suavity 
of his manners, that he soon acquired the affection and confidence 
of his illustrious patrons; and during the short remainder of the 
Duke's life, who expired in his arms, he was treated not with the 
distance and coldness of a dependant, but with the liberality and 
affection of a friend. 

After the decease of the Duke of Somerset, Mr. Lindsey con- 
tinued for some time in the family of the Duchess. And at her 
particular and earnest request, he accompanied her grandson, the 
late Duke of Northumberland, then about nine years of age, and 
in a delicate state of health, to the continent, where he continued 
two years; at the expiration of which term he brought his noble 
pupil back, restored in health and improved in learning. 

Of the kind and successful attention of Mr. Lindsey to Lord 
Warkworth, his illustrious parents entertained a just and grateful 
sense, and from that time they were set upon advancing his in- 
terest in the church.* Nor was his faithful superintendence lost 

* See Appendix, No. I. How anxiously these noble personages were bent upon 
making a comfortable provision in the church for their highly esteemed friend, appears 



6 MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 

upon the mind of his noble pupil, who, to the latest hour of 
Mr. Lindsey's life, entertained the highest esteem for his charac- 
ter, and manifested his regard for his venerable preceptor by more 
than empty professions. 

Immediately after Mr. Lindsey's return from the continent, he 
was presented by the Earl of Northumberland to the valuable 
rectory of Kirkby Whiske, in the North-riding of Yorkshire, at 
first under condition to resign it when the person for whom it was 
intended came of age ; but this young man dying a short time 
afterwards, it was given to Mr. Lindsey unconditionally in the 
usual form. And Mr. Lindsey, declining the proposal of his noble 
patrons to accompany Lord Warkworth to Eton as his private 
tutor, hastened down into the north to take possession of his 
living, and to enter upon the office of a parochial minister, which 
was the highest object of his ambition ; this being, in his judg- 

from the following extract of a letter from the late Duchess, then Countess of 
Northumberland, to Mr. Lindsey, when he resided at Piddletown, in Dorsetshire: — 

" I dare not give you another invitation to come to us, though both my lord and I 
wish much for the pleasure of seeing you, as you say it may be inconvenient to your 
affairs. I am truly sorry that it is so, and shall be sincerely glad to do anything in my 
power to make it otherwise, and find myself really obliged to you for believing I would 
do so. You say, dear sir, that if any small matter fell in my way for your service, you 
are persuaded I would think of you. Of this you may be assured. At the same time, 
I could wish you would be so good as to hint to me of what kind ; whether in the 
church, or a domestic chaplainship, or a private tutor, would be most agreeable to you. 
At the same I must tell you that I some years ago told my lord that I desired he 
would give me the next presentation of Hasilbury Bryan, as I hoped its vicinity to 
Piddletown might make it agreeable to you ; and upon this you may depend whenever 
it shall become vacant: but, in the meanwhile, I beg you will let me know if any of 
these above would suit you. And if I can be of any service to you in these, or any 
other things, it will give me great pleasure. I will not trouble you now any longer 
than to assure you of the sincere and affectionate friendship with which I am, dear sir, 

" Your most faithful humble servant, 

" E. Northumberland.'* 

It may be proper to mention here, that during his residence at the Duchess of 
Somerset's, Mr. Lindsey so recommended himself by his discreet and exemplary 
behaviour, that a worthy and pious lady, Mrs. Pearce, a friend of the Duchess, be- 
queathed to him without his knowledge the next presentation to the rectory of Chew 
Magna, near Bristol. The living became vacant after Mr. Lindsey had left the church 
and was settled in Essex Street. And, honourably resisting all the proposals which 
were made to him to dispose of it to great advantage, he presented it to a worthy 
clergyman, Mr. Hall, the brother-in-law of Mrs. Lindsey, who married Arch- 
deacon Blackburne's youngest daughter, and who is now (1812) the respectable 
incumbent. 



REVEREND THEOFHTLUS LINDSEY. 



ment, <( the way in which he could best serve God and be useful 
to man and which, therefore, he engaged in, " with an earnest 
desire that he might promote these great ends of the ministry of 
the gospel." * 

In this very retired situation Mr. Lindsey continued about three 
years : and during his residence in Yorkshire he was introduced 
to the acquaintance, and became a visitor in the family, of the 
celebrated Archdeacon Blackburne, at Richmond, a circumstance 
to which he was afterwards indebted, under Divine Providence, for 
the most valuable blessing of his life. 

At the request of the Huntingdon family, who considered 
themselves as having a prior claim, which they were unwilling to 
relinquish, to the honour of providing for Mr. Lindsey, he re- 
signed the living of Kirkby Whiske, in the year 1756, in order to 
succeed Dr. Dawney in the living of Piddletown, in Dorsetshire, 
which was in the gift of the Earl of Huntingdon. In this place 
he lived and laboured in his parochial and official duties with high 
reputation for seven years. While he was minister of this parish, 
Mr. Lindsey was married, Sept. 29, 17C0, to Miss Hannah 
Elsworth, the stepdaughter of Archdeacon Blackburne, f a lady 
whose principles and views were congenial to his ow T n ; w r hose 
superior understanding and exalted virtues were eminently cal- 
culated (as her excellent consort most cheerfully acknowledged) to 
aid and second him in all his schemes for the temporal and 
spiritual benefit of his parishioners, and especially of the poor 
and ignorant ; to go hand in hand with him in his researches 
after divine truth ; to encourage him in every labour, in every 

♦Apology, p. 217. 

f Archdeacon Blackburne, noticing this event in the Memoirs of his own life, prefixed 
to a new edition of his "Works, published by his son, the Reverend Francis Blackburne, 
a.d. 1804, says, " The friendship between Mr. Lindsey and Mr. Blackburne was not 
nearly so much cemented by this family connection, as by a similarity of sentiment in 
the cause of Christian liberty, and their aversion to ecclesiastical imposition in matt-rs of 
conscience. In the warfare on these subjects they went hand in hand." The Arch- 
deacon, who did not, for reasons which were afterwards published, approve of the 
magnanimous sacrifice which his relation had made, coldly adds, that " when Mr. 
Lindsey left Yorkshire and settled in London, Mr. Blackburne used to say he had lost 
his right arm." See Blackburne's Works, vol. i. p. 48. Upon the subject of Mr, 
Lindsey's marriage with Miss Elsworth, see an entertaining letter of the Countess, after- 
wards Duchess, of Northumberland, Appendix, No. II. 



8 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



profession, and in every sacrifice, to which he might be prompted 
by a sense of duty; and to fortify and console his mind under 
trials and privations of no common sort, and which it required no 
ordinary share of fortitude and magnanimity to support with dig- 
nity and to encounter with success. * 

It was while Mr, Lindsey resided at Piddletown that he first 
began to entertain serious scruples concerning the Scripture war- 
rant for Trinitarian worship, and the lawfulness of his continuing 
to officiate in the established church. His susceptible and inqui- 
sitive mind had, indeed, from early youth disapproved of some 
things in the thirty-nine articles ; and even while he was at the 
university, it struck him as a strange unnecessary entanglement, 
to put young men upon declaring and subscribing their approba- 
tion of such a large heterogeneous mass of positions and doctrines, 
as are contained in the liturgy, articles, and homilies. "But," he 
adds, " I was not under any scruples or great uneasiness on this 
account. I had hitherto no doubt, or rather I had never much 
thought of or examined into the doctrine of the Trinity, but sup- 
posed all was right there." f 

Some years afterwards, many doubts concerning the truth of 
this doctrine sprang up in his mind, which induced him to study 
the Scriptures with very close attention, in order to settle his 
judgment and to relieve himself from a painful state of suspense 
upon a question of such high importance. The result of his 
learned, calm, and diligent inquiries shall be stated in his own 
words : " The more I searched, the more I saw the little founda- 
tion there was for the doctrine commonly received, and interwoven 
with all the public devotions of the church, and could not but 
be disturbed at a discovery so ill suiting my situation. For in the 
end I became fully persuaded, to use St. Paul's express words, 

* Mr. Lindsey, who was deeply sensible of the high value of the inestimable trea- 
sure he possessed, in a letter to a friend, when he had it in contemplation to resign his 
benefice in the church, speaks of Mrs. Lindsey as one who was ready to run any 
hazard or loss to promote the cause of truth, and that in every step which he took in 
this business he had the full concurrence of his wife, "quae quoque currentem incitat." 
See Memoirs of the Reverend T. Lindsey, published in the Monthly Magazine for Dec, 
1808, drawn up by a friend from original papers in his possession. 

t Apology, p. 217. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



9 



1 Cor. viii. 6, 'that there is but one God, the Father, and He alone' 
to be worshipped/ This appeared to be the uniform unvaried 
language and practice of the Bible throughout : and I found the 
sentiments and practice of Christians, in the first and best ages, 
corresponding with it." * 

The scruples excited in Mr. Lindsey's mind from the result of 
his inquiries, gradually rose to such a height as to induce him, 
while he lived in Dorsetshire, to take some previous steps with a 
design to relieve himself by quitting his preferment in the church. 
The considerations which chiefly weighed with him to relinquish 
this design at that time will be stated hereafter. It may be 
sufficient for the present to observe, that self-interest and worldly 
considerations were not the motives ; for by these, as he truly 
observes, and as all who knew him and the whole tenor of his 
life will testify, " he was never much influenced." Besides which, 
"he had at that time a prospect of not being left entirely desti- 
tute of support if he had gone out of the church." f 

In the year 1762, upon the resignation of the Whig adminis- 
tration, the late Duke of Northumberland w^as appointed to suc- 
ceed the Earl of Halifax as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Upon 
this occasion his illustrious consort, eager to testify her regard to 
distinguished worth, at the Duke's desire wrote immediately to 
Mr. Lindsey to offer him the place of chaplain to the Lord 
Lieutenant, accompanied with a request that he and Mrs. Lindsey 
would reside with them in the vice-regal palace till some prefer- 
ment should offer worthy of his acceptance ; " at the same time 
assuring him that the Duke and herself should consider his 
acquiescence as a favour conferred on themselves ; that they 
should want the society of so kind and faithful a friend in a 
situation so new and untried." J That the acceptance of this 

* Apology, p. 218. + Ibid. p. 221. 

J See the Memoir of the late Rev. Theophilus Lindsey, in the Monthy Repository 
for December, 1808, by Mrs. Cappe. This lady, the daughter of Mr. Lindsey's worthy 
predecessor at Catterick, and the widow of the late learned, pious, and eloquent New- 
combe Cappe, of York, who is also herself well known to the public by various works 
which equally display the superiority of her intellect and the ardour of her piety and 
benevolence, was the early and faithful friend of Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey : and to her 
great honour be it known, that this lady was one of the very few who remained firmly 



10 MEMOIRS OE THE LATE 

offer would have been a prelude to some exalted station in the 
church of Ireland cannot admit a doubt. * But ambition of high 
ecclesiastical dignity formed no part of Mr. Lindsey's character. 
Eminently qualified as he was by learning and piety, by prudence 
of conduct, and politeness of manners, to have filled and adorned 
the most conspicuous station in the churchy his humility aspired 
to no higher preferment than that of a parochial minister. With 
much gratitude, therefore, but with equal firmness and decision, 
he declined the splendid offer of his noble friends, and contented 
himself with remaining for the present in his beautiful retirement 
in Dorsetshire. 

Not, indeed, that Mr. Lindsey felt any particular predilection 
for the situation in which he was now placed, however agreeable 
or advantageous. It was the secret wish both of him and of Mrs. 
Lindsey to return to the north, and to fix their residence in the 
vicinity of Richmond, where they might enjoy the society of 
many valuable friends, and particularly of the venerable Arch- 
deacon Blackburne. An opportunity for effecting this purpose 
occurred in the year following, by the vacancy of the vicarage of 
Catterick, in Yorkshire, occasioned by the decease of the Rev. 
Jeremiah Harrison, in July, 1763. With the consent and by the 
interest of Lord Huntingdon, Mr. Lindsey was permitted to 
exchange his living in Dorsetshire for the vicarage of Catterick ; 
a benefice in every respect inferior to that of Piddletown, except- 
ing that of its proximity to those learned and virtuous friends 
whose society he was most anxious to cultivate, f 

It may appear singular that Mr. Lindsey, who, while he re- 
sided in Dorsetshire, had, in consequence of his more diligent 
study of the Holy Scriptures, discarded the doctrine of the 
Trinity, and other doctrines of the established church which are 

and affectionately attached to them in the season of severe trial, and who, upon all 
occasions, came forward as their generous and intrepid advocate, when many who had 
formerly made great professions stood aloof, and not a few were disposed to cavil and 
condemn. 

* Dr. Dodgson, who accepted the appointment which Mr. Lindsey declined, was soon 
advanced to the Bishopric of Ossory, from which he was afterwards translated to that 
of Elphin, where he died a few years ago. 

t See Mrs, Cappe's Memoir in the Monthly Repository, ibid. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



11 



connected with it ; who ha(] even proceeded so far as to have 
formed a design of resigning his preferment in the church, and 
had taken some steps towards the accomplishment of this purpose, 
could by any means reconcile his ingenuous mind to that renewed 
subscription to the articles and declaration of his assent, which 
were necessary upon his induction into his new living. And the 
case appears the more extraordinary, as many clergymen, who in 
consequence of a revolution in their opinions had become dis- 
satisfied with the articles, would never, for the sake of obtaining 
the most valuable preferment, subscribe them again, though, 
while they were permitted to remain unmolested, they did not 
perceive it to be their duty to retire from the church. * With 
the frankness natural to his liberal mind, Mr. Lindsey himself 
gives the following solution of this difficulty. After having 
stated the considerations which at that time overruled his 
scruples of remaining in the church, he adds, " My great 
difficulty was the point of worship. In comparison w r ith this, 
subscription to the articles, however momentous in itself, gave me 
then but little concern. For as the devotions of the church are 
framed in strict agreement with the articles, and correspond with 
them more especially in what relates to religious worship, 1 looked 

* In the foremost rank of these worthy confessors is the venerable Archdeacon 
Blackburne, who, though he has opposed the Unitarian doctrine with much more of 
acrimony than of argument, in a small tract which he left for publication after his 
decease, entitled, An Answer to the Question, "Why are you not a Socinian] has, in the 
same tract, advanced reasons for the continued conformity of those who disapprove of 
many things in the doctrine and discipline of the established church, which, if not 
completely satisfactory, will at least induce a candid reader, who can make allowance 
for human frailty, to pause before he passes a sentence of unqualified condemnation upon 
those serious and inquisitive persons, who retain their official situations in the 
church so long as they continue unmolested in making those alterations which they 
judge to be necessary in the unscriptural phraseology of the public liturgy. Upon 
these principles, Archdeacon Blackburne continued to the end of life an officiating 
minister of the established church, while at the same time, though the whole emolu- 
ment which he derived from his profession amounted to little more than the scanty 
pittance of a hundred and fifty pounds a year, he peremptorily and repeatedly refused 
to accept of better preferment, which required renewed subscription to the thirty-nine 
articles. On the other hand, he declined an offer of more than double that income 
from the numerous and respectable congregation of the Old Jewry, in London, who 
were desirous of inviting him to be their pastor, in succession to the learned Dr. 
Chandler. — See Memoir of Archdeacon Blackburne's Life prefixed to his Works, pp. 74, 
75, and 120. See Appendix, No. III. 



12 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



upon my continuing to officiate in them as a constant virtual repe- 
tition of my subscription : and therefore I needed not nor did 
decline the actual repetition of it when occasion served ; though 
I was not forward in seeking such occasions." * It cannot be 
denied that Mr. Lindsey' s conduct in this instance has the merit 
of consistency ; for it seems hard to assign a satisfactory reason 
why they who do not hesitate to use the liturgy should 
decline subscribing the articles of the church. It would, how- 
ever, be the extreme of uncharitableness to pass a severe censure 
upon those who approve their integrity by rejecting preferment, 
when it could not be obtained but at the price of a renewed sub- 
scription to articles, even though (inconsistently as we may think) 
they may continue to retain their stations in the church, and 
to officiate in its devotions. Every man has not the firmness 
of a Luther or a Lindsey, and to his own master must every one 
stand or fall. 

It may now therefore be proper to state those considerations 
which reconciled this venerable confessor's own mind to remain- 
ing in the church, and to the regular performance of his official 
duties, for so many years after that by his ow T n acknowledgment 
he had abandoned its main doctrines, and regarded its forms of 
worship as erroneous and unscriptural. Upon this subject, we 
are happily not left to vague conjecture; for Mr. Lindsey himself, 
with all his native modesty and candour, has clearly stated, in the 
last chapter of his Apology on resigning the vicarage of Catterick, 
the interesting process of his mind upon this trying occasion. 
I transcribe his own words, f 

"1. Destined early and educated for the ministry, and my 
heart engaged in the service, when the moment of determination 
came, I felt a reluctance at casting myself out of my profession 
and way of usefulness that quite discouraged me. This was 
probably heightened by my being alone at the time, having no 
intimate friend to consult or converse with, and my imagination 
might be shocked by the strangeness and singularity of what I 



* Apology, p. 225. 



t Apology, p. 220. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



13 



was then going to do ; for such subjects, then upwards of fifteen 
years ago, were not so mucii canvassed or become so familiarized 
as they have been since. * 

t€ But I did not enough reflect, that when unlawful compliances 
of any sort are required, the first dictates of conscience, which 
are generally the rightest, are to be attended to ; and that the 
plain road of duty and uprightness will always be found to lead 
to the truest good in the end, because it is that which is chalked 
out by God himself. 

"2. Many worthy persons whose opinions varied little from 
mine, could nevertheless satisfy themselves so as to remain in the 
church and officiate in it. Why then, it often occurred to me, 
and others did not spare to remonstrate, why must I alone be so 
singularly nice and scrupulous, as not to comply with what wiser 
and better men could accommodate themselves to, but disturb 
others and distress myself by enthusiastic fancies purely my own, 
bred in gloomy solitude, which by time, and the free communica- 
tion and unfolding of them to others, might be dispersed and 
removed, and give way to a more cheerful and enlarged way of 
thinking ? It was worth the while at least to try such a method, 
and not rashly to take a step of which I might long repent, 

"3. It was suggested that I was not author or contriver of the 
things imposed and complained of. All I did was ministerial 
only, in submission to civil authority, which is within certain 

* The time alluded to must have been about the year 1758. This was previous to 
the resignation of the Reverend and learned Dr. William Robertson, who, in January, 
1760, for the sake of a good conscience, gave up a valuable living in Ireland. So that 
at the time when Mr. Lindsey first thought of relinquishing his station in the church, 
he had scarcely any example, for nearly a century back, of a similar act of self-denial 
to encourage and fortify his mind. Those eminent divines of the established church 
who, at the commencement of the eighteenth century, thought and wrote with great 
freedom upon theological subjects, contented themselves, for the most part, with declin- 
ing to renew their subscription to the articles in order to obtain further preferment, but 
did not feel themselves obliged to resign the stations which they held. And though, as 
the century advanced, much had been said and written in recommendation of greater 
liberality and latitude in the terms of conformity, the lawfulness of clerical conformity 
had been but little canvassed. It is not therefore surprising that Mr. Lindsey should 
have been at first shocked, and in some degree intimidated, at the prospect of the 
strange singularity of the measure which he had in contemplation. After the resigna- 
tion of Dr. Robertson, he was much affected and encouraged by the example of that 
venerable confessor. 



14 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



limitations the authority of God, and which had imposed these 
things only for peace and public good. That I ought not only 
to leave my benefice, but to go out of the world, if I expected a 
perfect state of things in which there was no flaw or hardship. 
That if there was a general tendency in what was established to 
serve the interest of virtue and true religion, I ought to rest satis- 
fied, and wait for a change in other incidental matters that were 
grievous to me, but not generally felt by others. That in the 
mean time I had it in my power to forward the desired work, by 
preparing men's minds for it, whenever there should be a dis- 
position in the state to rectify what was amiss. Therefore, if I 
could in any way of interpretation reconcile the prescribed forms 
with the scripture in my own mind, and make myself easy, I was 
not only justified, but to be commended." 

£ Being influenced by these considerations to regard it as a duty 
to retain his station in the church, the great difficulty now was, 
to devise some way of interpretation by which to reconcile the 
prescribed form of Trinitarian worship with his own just and 
scriptural view of the proper unity of God, and that the Father 
,alone is to be worshipped. In comparison with this, the objection 
against subscription to the articles appeared to Mr. Lindsey to be 
of trivial account, or rather as a less intricate case under the same 
problem. And the method which he took to satisfy his mind upon 
this subject he thus describes : — 

"I brought myself to consider the Trinitarian forms in the 
liturgy, and the invocations at the entrance of the litany, as a 
threefold representation of the one God, the Father, governing all 
things by himself and by his Son and Spirit ; and as a threefold 
way of addressing him as a Creator and original benevolent cause 
of all things, as Redeemer of mankind by his Son, and their 
Sanctifier by his Holy Spirit.* 

* This, which is usually called the Sabellian hypothesis, and which differs only in 
words from the proper Unitarian doctrine, was advanced by the learned Dr. Wallis, 
Savilian professor of mathematics at Oxford, and well received by the university, in 
opposition to the hypothesis of three infinite minds, maintained by the celebrated Dr. 
Sherlock, which underwent a public censure. 

" This reasoning," says Dr. Wal!is, alluding to the objections of the Unitarians, " is 



REVEREND THEOPHTLUS LTXDSEY. 



15 



u I took all opportunities, both in public and privately, to bear 
my testimony to this great truth of Holy Scripture, that there is 
but one God, the Father, with great plainness and without any 
reserve. And I hoped I was laying a good foundation to build 
' on for those that come after me, when the time of a further re- 
formation should come; and that I might thus innocently con- 
tinue in a church where there were many things I disapproved, 
and wished to have amended, as I knew not where I might be in 
any degree alike useful." 

These were the considerations which, as Mr. Lindsey expresses 
it, were of weight to divert him then from the thought of quitting 
his station in the church, and which brought him in time to 
remain tolerably quiet and easym it. But however plausible these 
arguments might be, and whatever real weight some of these con- 
siderations might possess, they were not likely to maintain a 
permanent ascendancy over the honourable, ingenuous, and in- 
quiring mind of this excellent man ; and in his Apology he 
frankly and with great humility acknowledges their invalidity, 
and his own infirmity in yielding to them. 

u Not," says he, p. 225, " that I now justify myself therein. 
Yea, rather I condemn myself. But as I have humble hope of 
the divine forgiveness, let not men be too rigid in their censures. 
Let those only blame and condemn who know what it is to 
doubt, — to be in perplexity about things of the highest impor- 
tance, — to be in fear of causelessly abandoning a station assigned 

grounded on this silly mistake, that a divine person is as much as to say a Divinity or 
a God, when indeed a divine person is only a mode, or respect, or relation of God to 
his creatures. He beareth to his creatures these three relations, modes, or respects, 
that he is their Creator, their Redeemer, their Sanctifier : this is what we mean, and 
all that we mean, when we say God is three persons. He hath those three relations 
to his creatures, and is thereby no more three Gods than he was three Gods to the Jews 
because he calleth himself the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of 
Ja-ob. See Considerations on the Explications of the Doctrine of the Trinity, p. 7, 
1693, apud Lindsey's Apology, p. 227. The learned professor might have spared his 
supercilious reflection upon the understandings of his Unitarian brethren, whose only 
error consisted in taking common words in their common acceptation. Is Dr. Wallis's 
doctrine that which still prevails in the learned university] If so, the pure Unitarian 
doctrine is much more extensively diffused than many of its most zealous advocates 
imagine. Happy would it be for the cause of truth if, w 7 hen error is detected and dis- 
carded, the language of error were discarded with it. 



16 



MEMOIRS OP THE LATE 



by Providence, and being found idle and unprofitable when the 
Great Master came to call for the account of the talent received." 
He must be a very severe moralist whom such a concession does 
not satisfy. 

These reflections, however, occurred at a subsequent period. 
For the present, Mr. Lindsey had made up his mind to continue 
as an officiating minister in the established church; and with 
those views and in this posture of mind, in the month of Novem- 
ber, 1763, he took possession of his vicarage of Catterick, fully 
determined to seek out and accept of no other preferment, and 
expecting " here quietly to have ended his days," * though it 
pleased God in his providence to order it otherwise. 

No sooner was Mr. Lindsey settled in his new situation than 
he applied himself with great assiduity, in his extensive and 
populous parish, to perform the duties of a parochial minister. 
He regularly officiated twice on the Sunday in his parish church, 
and in the interval between the services he catechized young 
people. He visited the sick, he relieved the poor, he established 
and supported charity-schools for the children, he spent consider- 
able sums of money in feeding the hungry, in clothing the naked, 
in providing medicines for the diseased, and in purchasing and 
distributing books for the instruction of the ignorant. In his 
domestic arrangements the greatest economy was observed, that 
he and his excellent lady might have the greater surplus to expend 
in liberality and charity : for it was a rule with him to lay up 
nothing from the income of his living. "It is a great satis- 
faction," says he, in his Farewell Address, p. 7, " at this, my 
departure from you, that I can truly say I have coveted no man's 
silver, nor gold, nor apparel. In nothing have I made a gain of 
you, or sought to enrich myself ; nor am I enriched by you at 
all ; but what was over and above the supply of necessary wants 
'has been freely expended in what was thought might be most 
useful for your present benefit and future happiness. I have not 
sought yours, but you." 

* See Farewell Address to the Parishioners at Catterick, p. 1. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



17 



His instructions, public and private, were judiciously adapted 
to the state of his hearers. " I have endeavoured/' says he, p. 8, 
" to teach you the truth which Christ our Lord taught, as far as 
I was able to learn it by an impartial and diligent search of the 
Holy Scriptures. And I often reminded you that yon were not 
to believe anything because spoken by me, but to examine and 
compare how far it was agreeable to Holy Scripture, our only rule 
and guide." 

His discourses were scriptural and practical, consisting, as he 
says, " altogther of expositions of large portions of the New Testa- 
ment, with such inferences as naturally and plainly flowed from 
them." " In these discourses," he adds, "I was led continually 
to point out to you that religion lay not in outward forms and 
ordinances, even of God's own appointment, though they be helps 
to it ; but in an entire conversion and devotedness of the heart to 
God, influencing to sobriety, chastity, brotherly love, kindness, 
integrity, in all your conversation ; to do everything out of a sense 
of duty to God, ever present with and supporting us in life ; and 
chiefly for his infinite love to us in Christ Jesus our Lord, by whom 
he hath called us to his eternal glory." 

Mr. Lindsey often pressed upon his village hearers the duty of 
family religion : " That every house should be a little church, as 
it were, wherein all the members of it were carefully instructed in 
the things of God ; and once at least at the close of each day called 
together to join in a short prayer to God." This he represented 
as a constant check upon parents in their daily conduct; as a 
means of inducing them to hasten home with pleasure after their 
labours were over ; of making their families orderly and happy ; 
of preventing early depravity and corruption in the youth of both 
sexes ; and of training them up in habits of piety and virtue. 

He still more inculcated upon them the necessity of keeping 
the Lord's-day holy. " As many of each family as can be allowed, 
to attend the public worship of the great Creator and Heavenly 
Father, and to be mindful afterwards of a suitable employment 
of time at home. For the spending one part of this sacred day 
in unnecessary worldly cares, or in sports and diversions, tends 

c 



18 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



to efface every serious impression made on the mind on the other 
part ; and by degrees leads to spend the whole of it in the same 
ungodly sort. Not that the service of God is to make us morose, 
or sad and uncheerful at this or at any time. There are ways of 
passing this holy day in walking out and contemplating the works 
of God, in pleasing charitable offices to our neighbours, and in 
innocent useful conversation, which will cheer and refresh both 
mind and body far beyond all those noisy and riotous games, 
always accompanied with profane oaths, and generally ending in 
the alehouse or worse." — Ibid. 

Thus did this truly apostolic rnan, at the conclusion of his ten 
years' ministerial labours in the parish of Catterick, modestly yet 
firmly appeal to those who had been the constant witnesses of his 
life and doctrine, to bear their testimony to the simplicity, fidelity, 
and zeal with which he had instructed them in the truths of 
divine revelation, and to the unblameableness and the uniform 
disinterestedness of his conduct. He laments that he had not 
seen so much of the fruits of his labours among them as he 
desired. But, he adds, " I would not now complain. Let us all 
make haste to repent and amend, for the time is short. I would 
hope that more good may have been done than I know of ; and 
that there are more truly pious than the few that appear to be 
so ; and that some seed of the word which has been sown may 
hereafter spring up and bear good fruit." — Ibid. p. 11. 

To the exemplary conduct of this venerable man in the discharge 
of his official duties, and in particular to his interesting and con- 
descending manner of communicating instruction to the young 
and the ignorant, I willingly transcribe the eloquent testimony of 
an early and attentive hearer and witness, who was also a frequent 
visitor at his house, and through life an ardent and grateful 
admirer, to whose narrative I have before alluded. 

" Young at the time," says Mrs. Cappe in her elegant Memoir 
of Mr. Lindsey in the Monthly Repository, " uninformed, and 
accustomed to the society of those among my general acquaint- 
ance who form their estimate of right and wrong in the scale of 
commonly-received opinion, I was little qualified to comprehend, 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



19 



or duly to appreciate, the full excellence of such a character ; yet 
I was exceedingly interested by the amiable, unassuming dis- 
position of my new friend ; by the patience with which he 
endeavoured to set right every mistake or prejudice; by his total 
disregard of every personal indulgence ; and by his unwearied 
solicitude to make all around him good and happy. It was the 
constant subject of his thoughts in what way he could most 
effectually benefit the people committed to his care, whether in 
their temporal or eternal interests. And to this end a plan of 
great frugality was adopted by himself and Mrs. Lindsey, who 
perfectly acceded to his views, that they might have the power of 
distributing books, in aid of personal instruction ; of giving 
medicines to the sick, and food to those who were ready to perish 
with hunger. But it was on a Sunday evening chiefly, when the 
labours of the day were over, a day devoted to the public and 
private instruction of the congregation at large, of the children 
of those who composed it, of servants and others who attended 
in his own study, that the irradiations of a mind so heavenly were 
the most striking. Never shall I forget, as he walked across the 
room with cheerful and animated step, unmindful of weariness or 
fatigue, discoursing, perhaps, on the beauties of creation, the 
goodness of God everywhere manifested, the perfect example of 
Christ, or on the heroism and virtue of martyrs and confessors 
gone to their reward, how his eyes would sparkle with delight. 
When, he would say, will the happy time arrive, that all men will 
be virtuous and happy ? " 

In this pleasing manner, and with these promising prospects, 
did Mr. Lindsey commence his career at Catterick. Surrounded 
with parishioners who idolized him; in the neighbourhood of 
friends who loved him, and whose society charmed and edified 
him ; and engaged in offices most delightful to himself and useful 
to others, he devoted himself wholly to the duties of his ministry, 
and aspired to no other preferment. 



20 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



CHAPTER II. 

FROM MR. LINDSEY'S SETTLEMENT AT CATTERICK, TO HIS 
RESIGNATION OF THAT VICARAGE, A.D. 1773. 

But this sunshine of felicity did not continue long without 
interruption : Mr. Lindsey's ingenuous mind could not satisfy 
itself in a compromise with sincerity. A dangerous fit of sickness 
roused his conscience, and he became secretly but firmly resolved 
to seek an opportunity to relinquish a situation which was no 
longer supportable. The further process of his mind upon this 
interesting occasion I shall state in his own words.* 

" I could not now satisfy myself with Dr. Wallis's and the like 
softenings and qualifications of the Trinitarian forms in the liturgy. 
I wondered how I had been able to bring myself to imagine that 
I was worshipping the Father in spirit and in truth, whilst I was 
addressing two other persons, God the Son and God the Holy 
Ghost, and imploring favours severally of them in terms that 
implied their personality, and distinct agency and deity, as much 
as that of the Father, f 

* Apology, p. 230. 

+ This miserable casuistry, for such it now appeared to the venerable man who had 
formerly been entangled in its web, silenced the scruples of many of the learned 
Unitarians at the close of the 17th century, and induced them to acquiesce in con- 
formity to the established form of worship ; while, contrary to the obvious meaning of 
the words, they interpreted the language of the liturgy in a Unitarian sense, upon the 
principles of Dr. Wallis's explanation of the Trinity, and of the Oxford Decree. 
Amongst others, the celebrated Thomas Firmin, the friend of Tillotson and the patron 
of the poor, who made no secret of his Unitarian principles, from which, at the par- 
ticular request of Queen Mary, the pious Archbishop in vain laboured to reclaim him, 
was influenced by these considerations to adhere to the communion of the established 
church, and to dissuade others from separating from it. His friend John Biddle appears 
to have seen the question in a juster light ; and rather chose to suffer imprisonment 
and banishment than to join in worship, the language of which, however he might 
interpret it to his own satisfaction, must necessarily convey an erroneous sense to the 
majority of those who use it. — See the Life of Firmin, p. 14, ed. 1791, 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



21 



" If invocations so particular, language so express and personal, 
might be sifted and explained away into prayer to one God only, 
I might, by the like supposals and interpretation, bring myself to 
deify and pray to the Virgin Mary, and maintain that I w as still 
only praying to the one God, who was thus invoked in his creature 
that was so nearly united to him. 

" It appeared to me a blameable duplicity, that whilst I was 
praying to the one God the Father, the people that heard me were 
led, by the language I used, to address themselves to two other 
persons or distinct intelligent agents : for they would never 
subtilize so far as to fancy the Son and Holy Spirit to be merely 
two modes, or respects, or relations of God to them. 

t€ As one great design of our Saviour's mission was to promote 
the knowledge and worship of the Father, the only true God, as 
he himself tells us, I could not think it allowable or lawful for me, 
on any imagined prospect of doing good, to be instrumental in 
carrying on a worship which I believed directly contrary to the 
mind of Christ, and condemned by him. 

" If it be a rule in morals, quod dubitas ne feceris, it is still 
more evident that we are not to do anything that we know to be 
evil; no, not to procure the greatest good. For God does not 
want my sinful act, It would be impious to suppose that he 
cannot carry on his government, and promote the felicity of his 
creatures without it. And although in his providence he may 
bring good out of any evil, he will not let the doer of it go 
unpunished. And if anything be evil and odious in his sight, 
prevarication and falsehood is such ; and most of all an habitual 
course thereof in the most solemn act a creature can be engaged 
in, — the worship of him, the holy, all-seeing God." 

While these thoughts were passing through Mr. Lindsey ; s mind, 
and probably before he had formed an absolute and final deter- 
mination upon the subject, he had the happiness to be introduced 
to the acquaintance of two persons, like-minded with himself, 
whom he ever afterwards numbered amongst his most intimate 
and confidential friends, and whose friendship he with reason 



22 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



regarded as among the greatest consolations and blessings of his 
life. These were the Rev. William Turner, the learned, liberal, 
and pious minister of the Presbyterian congregation at Wakefield, 
in Yorkshire, and the celebrated Dr. Priestley, then a Dissenting 
minister at Leeds. Early in the summer of the year 1769, these 
gentlemen met Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey by appointment at the 
house of Archdeacon Blackburne at Richmond, where they passed 
some days together in that unreserved and delightful interchange 
of sentiments, and in those free and amicable discussions which 
would naturally take place among persons of high intellectual 
attainments, in whose estimation the discoveries of divine revela- 
tion held the most honourable place, and who were all equally 
animated with the same ardent love of truth, and with the same 
generous zeal for civil and religious liberty. 

This memorable interview made a favourable and lasting im- 
pression upon the minds of all the parties, and was followed with 
very important consequences. It gave birth to friendships between 
the strangers who were then first introduced to each other, which 
improved rapidly upon further acquaintance, which were ever 
afterwards a source of the highest mutual satisfaction and im- 
provement, which continued unimpaired to the end of life, and 
will no doubt be resumed under happier auspices in a better and 
immortal state. 

In a letter from the Archdeacon to Mr. Turner, which is now 
before me, and which was written soon afterwards, he says : " I have 
had Mr. Lindsey's thanks in form, for bringing him acquainted with 
two valuable men. The company of such worthies as Mr. Turner 
and Dr. Priestley is one of my luxuries ; and the last small taste I 
had of it will make me long till another opportunity affords me a 
second course. And I had the less relish for the dessert (I mean 
the rambles), as it was a kind of interruption of that conversation 
for which I am always sharp set. Friend Lindsey can talk and 
even dispute on horseback. In that situation I am sure to fall 
into reveries, and often forget both myself and my company ; and 
for something of that sort which might look like ill manners, I 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY, 



23 



believe I ought to make an apology in our pilgrimage to Master 
Buncle's cave."* 

Dr. Priestley, in the interesting Memoir of himself, mentions 
this introduction to Mr. Lindsey as one of the greatest blessings 
of his life. Speaking of the connections he formed during his 
residence at Leeds, he adds : — 

" Here it was that, in consequence of a visit which, in company 
with Mr. Turner, I made to Archdeacon Blackburne at Richmond, 
I first met with Mr. Lindsey, then of Catterick, and a correspon- 
dence and intimacy commenced, which have been the source of 
more real satisfaction to me than any other circumstance in my 
whole life. He soon discovered to me that he was uneasy in his 
situation, and had thoughts of quitting it. At first I was not 
forward to encourage him in it, but rather advised him to make 
what alteration he thought proper in the offices of the church, 
and leave it to his superiors to dismiss him if they chose. But 
his better judgment and greater fortitude led him to give up all 
connection with the established church of his own accord/ ; t 

Mr. Turner was not less sensible than Dr. Priestley of the 
value of Mr. Lindsey's friendship ; and to these two excellent 
men, of spirits congenial with his own, did this venerable con- 
fessor first communicate his intention of resigning his prefer- 
ment in the church. And that, not to ask their advice upon 
the subject, for his resolution was already fixed, but to consult 
with them concerning the proper time and manner of accomplish- 
ing this extraordinary design, and to derive that support and 

* Mr. Turner was as eminent for prudence as he was for learning, piety, and 
liberality of sentiment. An intimate friendship was formed between this gentleman 
and Mr. Lindsey soon after the interview at Richmond, and an interesting and con- 
fidential correspondence took place, which only terminated by disability on the part of 
Mr. Turner from age and infirmity. It was then taken up by his son, the present 
highly respected minister of the Unitarian congregation at Xewcastle-upon-Tyne, and 
continued till Mr. Lindsey himself became disabled by the infirmities of age. To the 
kindness of this gentleman the author is indebted for a sight of Mr. Lindsey's letters; 
of which it will be perceived that a liberal, though it is hoped not an improper, use has 
been made in the course of the narrative. It will easily be conceived that Mr. Lindse) 7 " 
was not deficient in expressions of affection and esteem. How high a value he set 
upon the fiiendship of these excellent men, will be seen from various extracts of letters 
to Mr. Turner, which will be introduced in the sequel of this Memoir. 

t Dr. Priestley's Memoirs, p. 6], London edition, 



24 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



comfort which a virtuous mind, in trying circumstances, needs 
and seeks from the sympathy and kind suggestions of enlight- 
ened and generous friends, who, having adopted similar prin- 
ciples, enter cordially into all its views, feelings, and difficulties, 
and by seasonable counsel, and tender expressions of encourage- 
ment and approbation, soothe and tranquillise the emotions of 
an anxious and disquieted spirit. 

Mr. Lindsey was now in a situation to need all the comfort 
which his friends could administer. This venerable man was no 
professed ascetic : he was no enthusiast or visionary. He had 
ever lived in a station of ease and affluence, and comparatively 
high consideration. His company had been sought after by the 
opulent, the learned, and the great. Nor was he insensible to 
the advantages and the comforts of an eminent and respectable 
station. He had not been at all accustomed to struggle with 
difficulties, or to endure the privations and the obscurity of 
indigence. His delight had been to employ his affluence in doing 
good, and he had even made conscience of saving nothing for 
his own use from the revenues of his living. 

He was fully apprised that, if he carried his present virtuous 
resolution into effect, the scene would soon be changed. " To 
leave a station of ease and affluence (he observes in his Farewell 
Address to his Parishioners at Catterick), " and to have to combat 
with various straits and hardships of an uncertain world, affords 
but a dark prospect." Instead of opulence and high estimation 
in the world, he clearly foresaw that the step he was about to take 
would entail poverty, contempt, neglect, and calumny. He could 
not but be sensible that by the majority of those who either knew 
him or who might hear of his withdrawing from the church, and 
who could not or would not duly appreciate his motives, his con- 
duct would be severely censured as rash, fanatical, and absurd. 
He expected that his means of usefulness, whether in the way of 
instruction or beneficence, would be exceedingly reduced, if not 
entirely annihilated. Among the dissenters his connections were 
very limited, and he had little prospect of encouragement. By 
the great majority of them his principles and his person would be 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



25 



regarded with horror.* Not many even of those societies which 
call themselves rational and liberal would endure to hear the pure 
Unitarian doctrine ; and very few indeed would justly appreciate 
the sublime principles and the exemplary character of this faithful 
servant of Christ. And, as he observes with great feeling, it was 

* They now are deem'd the faithful and axe prais'd, 

VTho, constant only in rejecting Thee, 

Deny thy Godhead with a martyr's zeal, 

And quit their office for their error's sake. 

Blind, and in love with darkness !— Cowper. 
Such is the language of our admired poet, whose gloom}'' system of theology cast a 
deeper shade upon the natural morbid tendency of his constitution, and involved his 
innocent and tender spirit in the darkest clouds of religious melancholy, under which 
he sunk in sad despondency to the grave. Peace to his hallowed ashes ! When the 
last trumpet shall summon the sleeping sufferer from the tomb, free from the oppressive 
chain of ignorance and infirmity, he will rejoice to find the parent of the human race 
infinitely more kind and merciful to his erring offspring than his rigid system, so much 
at war with his gentle temper, led him to believe; and will greet with delight on their 
thrones of glory, those whom his rash and misguided zeal had formerly consigned to 
regions of woe. — Let the reader forgive the above almost involuntary effusion of re- 
spect to departed genius, combined with high moral worth, but oppressed with melan- 
choly, and entangled in a system the most sombre and terrific of all that have ever 
been grafted upon the mild and benevolent doctrine of Jesus. As to the rest, the 
sentiment expressed in the above quotation was certainly that of the great body of 
Dissenters at the time when it was written. It is so still ; but not to the same extent. 
Happily, within the last thirty years, owing under God to the labours and sacrifices of 
Mr. Lindsey and others his worth}' coadjutors or followers, " the gospel light of the know- 
ledge of the one true God, and the worship to be paid to him only, as taught by Jesus 
Christ, has been spreading its beautiful ray through the British nation : so that many 
of all ranks begin to see with concern the striking opposition betwixt our public forms 
of worship and those laid down in the word of God." (Apology, p. 236.) And 
among the dissenting churches in particular, where there were formerly only one or 
two solitary individuals who received the proper Unitarian doctrine, and who were 
almost afraid of avowing their belief, lest they should be hunted out of society like 
wild beasts, flourishing congregations of professed Unitarian Christians have of late 
sprung up, whose conduct is an ornament to their profession, and whose enlightened 
zeal is diffusing the salutary odour of pure evangelical truth with a rapidity and success 
almost unprecedented. 

Nevertheless, that all the Dissenters who were Mr. Lindsey's contemporaries, though 
differing from him in doctrinal principles, were not insensible to his great moral worth, 
is evident from the correspondence of the late Reverend Job Orton, the able assistant 
and confidential friend of the late pious and celebrated Dr. Doddridge; who in one of 
his letters published by and addressed to the Reverend S. Palmer, of Hackney, ex- 
presses himself in these words : " Were I to publish an account of silenced and ejected 
ministers, I should be strongly tempted to insert Mr. Lindsey in the list which he 
mentions in his Apology with so much veneration. He certainly deserves as much 
respect and honour as any one of them for the part he has acted. Perhaps few of 
them exceeded him in learning and piety. I venerate him as I would any of your 
confessors. As to his particular sentiments, they are nothing to me. An honest, pious 
man, who makes such a sacrifice to truth and conscience as he has done, is a glorious 
character, and deserves the respect, esteem, and veneration of every true Christian.' ' 
— Orton's Letters, vol. ii. p. 159. 



26 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



a severe aggravation of his distress, in the prospect of straits and 
difficulties, that he was not alone involved in them. The per- 
son who was most justly the dearest in the world to him must 
share in his privations and sufferings. And though that excellent 
person, as soon as his pious and honourable resolution was com- 
municated, expressed the highest approbation of it, animated and 
encouraged him to pursue it, and urged him on with a zeal 
almost superior to his own, testifying the utmost readiness to 
forego ease and comfort, and, what was the most dear of all, the 
many opportunities of active benevolence, and to accompany him 
into the shades of solitude and poverty ; yet Mr. Lindsey did not 
on that account feel less sensibly the hardships and miseries to 
which his beloved and worthy consort would inevitably be ex- 
posed. But none of these things mpved him. He fixed his eye 
upon the line of duty, and determined to adhere closely to it, and 
to leave the event to God. 

These were the difficulties which Mr. Lindsey foresaw, and 
which he made up his mind to encounter. But though the con- 
flict of his feelings must have been inexpressibly great, the 
delicacy of his spirit would not permit him to disclose them at 
large even to his most confidential friends, that he might not give 
them unnecessary pain ; and, chiefly, lest, if they were acquainted 
with all the circumstances of the case, they should endeavour to 
dissuade him from that measure which was now become the fixed 
purpose of his heart. " It was not till long after this," says 
Dr. Priestley (Memoir, p. 61), " that I was apprised of all the 
difficulties he had to struggle with before he could accomplish his 
purpose." 

It had occurred to himself, and had been suggested by Dr. 
Priestley and some other friends who knew the embarrassment he 
was under, that " he might change the public service of the 
church, and make it such as he could conscientiously officiate in," 
leaving it to his superiors to dismiss him if they disapproved his 
conduct. And there was no ground to suspect that he would ever 
have met with any molestation from them \ but, as Dr. Priestley 
observes, " Mr. Lindsey's better judgment and greater fortitude 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



27 



led him to determine the contrary." The foundation of this 
determination he has explained in his Apology, p. 237. 

" I could not," says he, " reconcile myself to change the public 
service of the church, because I looked upon the declaration of 
conformity and subscription at institution to be such solemnities, 
that I could not be easy under so great a violation of them. For 
I must have adopted all Dr. Clarke's amendments, or even more ; 
which would have been making almost a new service of it.* 

" But, could I have brought my own mind to it, there were 
some things in my situation in so large a parish, with three 
chapels in it, which would have made such a change impracticable. 
Not to mention, also, that when incapacitated by sickness or re- 
moved by death, the people in all probability must have returned 
back to their old forms again. In short, such an attempt would 
have been likely, in my place, to have produced much confusion 
and perplexity, to say the least : and I could not see any adequate 
religious improvement or edification among my people likely to 
arise from it ; the only justifiable end of making such a change, 
and staying with them." 

The venerable writer adds : u Upon the most calm and serious 
deliberation, therefore, and weighing of every circumstance^ I am 
obliged to give up my benefice, whatever I suffer by it, unless I 
would lose all inward peace and hope of God's favour and accept- 
ance in the end." 

Mr. Lindsey was encouraged and fortified in his virtuous resolu- 
tion f by the example of those pious and conscientious clergymen, 

* The following is the form of the engagement to conformity at institution to a Hying 
before a bishop : — 

^ I do declare that I will conform to the liturgy of the Church of England 
as it is now by law established. A. B." 

" This declaration was made and subscribed before me by the said A. B. to 
be admitted and instituted into the rectory or vicarage, &c., in the year of our 

Lord and in the year of our consecration." 

f Mr. Lindsey was particularly struck with the following pious and affecting 
soliloquy of Mr. Oldfield, an ejected minister of Carsington, in Derbyshire, whose pri- 
vate papers fell into Dr. Calamy's hands : — 

"When thou canst no longer continue in thy work without dishonour to Grod, dis- 
credit to religion, foregoing thy integrity, wounding conscience, spoiling thy peace, and 
hazarding the loss of thy salvation ; in a word, when the conditions upon which thou 



28 MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 

who, in the year 1662, on the 24th of August, the too memorable 
Bartholomew-day, being the day on which the Act of Uniformity 
was carried into effect, to the number of two thousand, suffered 
themselves to be ejected and silenced, rather than submit to the 
new impositions, and subscribe and conform to the liturgy and 
articles against their consciences ; " a long list" continues Mr. 
Lindsey, " that does honour to human nature, and to our own 
country in particular, which has hitherto taken the lead in the 
restoration of God's true religion." 

But the example which, if possible, pressed with still greater 
weight upon his thoughts, and which urged, and, if I may so 
express it, even stung his tender and upright mind to a decisive 
resolution upon the subject, was the recent and affecting but 
little noticed case of the Reverend Dr. William Robertson, who, in 
the year 1760, having embraced Unitarian principles, though he 
had a large family and very slender means of subsistence, for the 
sake of preserving his integrity inviolate, resigned a valuable pre- 
ferment and the offer of much better in the diocese of Ferns in 
Ireland. This venerable confessor, in his affecting epistle to his 
worthy diocesan, Dr. Robinson, afterwards the celebrated Primate 
of Ireland, who was anxious to retain him in the church, expresses 
himself thus : — 

" In debating this matter with myself, besides the arguments 
directly to the purpose, several strong collateral considerations 
came in upon the positive side of the question. The streightness 
of my circumstances pressed me close ; a numerous family quite 

must continue (if thou wilt continue) in thy employments are sinful and unwarranted 
by the word of God, thou mayest, yea thou must, believe that God will turn thy very 
silence, suspension, deprivation, and laying aside, to his glory and the advancement 
of the gospel's interest. When God will not use thee in one kind, yet he will in 
another. A soul that desires to serve and honour him shall never want opportunity 
to do it ; nor must thou so limit the Holy One of Israel, as to think he hath but 
one way in which he can glorify himself by thee. He can do it by thy silence as well 

as by thy preaching : thy laying aside as well as thy continuance in thy work. 

It is not pretence of doing God the greatest service, or performing the weightiest duty, 
that will excuse the least sin, though that sin capacitated or gave us the opportunity 
for the doing that duty. Thou wilt have little thanks, 0 my soul, if when thou art 
charged with corrupting God's worship, falsifying thy vows, &c, thou pretendest a 
necessity for it in order to a continuance in the ministry." — Calamy's Account of 
ejected Ministers, vol. ii. p ; 175. 



REVEREND' THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



29 



unprovided for, pleaded with the most pathetic and moving 
eloquence. And the infirmities and wants of age, now coming 
fast upon me, were urged feelingly. But one single consideration 
prevailed over all these — that the Creator and Governor of the 
universe, whom it is my first duty to worship and adore, being the 
God of truth, it must be disagreeable to him to profess, subscribe, 
or declare, in any matter relating to his worship and service, what 
is not believed strictly and simply to be true."* 

"The example of this worthy person/' says Mr. Lindsey, Apo- 
logy, p. 239, u has been a secret reproach to me ever since I heard 
of it. For I thought, and perhaps justly, that he might not have 
all those reasons of dislike to our established forms of worship 
that I had : and though myself not without unknown straits and 
difficulties to struggle with, and not alone involved in them, yet 
have I not all those dissuasives and discouragements that he paints 
forth in his affecting letter to the Bishop of Ferns, subjoined to 
his instructive and learned work." 

Mr. Lindsey's purpose being now irrevocably fixed quietly to 
retire from the established church, he only waited for a favourable 
opportunity of carrying his honourable design into effect. 

In the mean time an event occurred which induced Mr. Lindsey 
for the present to postpone his intended resignation. This was an 
Association formed in the year 1771, by some of the clergy of the 
established church and a few of the laity, for the purpose of 
making an application to parliament to obtain relief in the matter 
of subscription ; that a declaration of assent to the sufficiency of 
the Holy Scriptures might be substituted in lieu of subscription 
to the thirty-nine articles and the book of Common Prayer. Mr. 
Lindsey from the beginning " entertained very slender hopes of 
success. Least of all did he expect that reformation in the liturgy 
would be carried to such an extent as to make it practicable for 
him, with a safe conscience, to retain his situation in the church. 
But he was anxious to avoid the charge of precipitancy. He 

* This epistle is annexed to a small publication of Dr. Robertson's, entitled, An 
Attempt to exi>lain the Words, Reason, Substance, &c. Of this excellent man some 
further account will be given in the sequel of this narrative 



30 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



would not leave room for cavillers to allege that he had deserted 
his post before he knew that such a step would be necessary. And 
he thought that after having waited the issue of this important 
measure, his resignation would be more justifiable in the sight of 
the world, and would produce a better effect."* 

This application to parliament originated in the great impression 
which was made upon the public mind, and especially upon the 
minds of many of the learned, liberal, and serious clergy, by the 
celebrated work of Archdeacon Blackburne, entitled The Confes- 
sional. At the desire of some of his brethren, the Archdeacon 
published, in the beginning of the year 1771, "Proposals for an 
Application to Parliament for Relief in the matter of Subscription, 
&c, humbly submitted to the consideration of the learned and con- 
scientious Clergy." In consequence of these proposals, a meeting 
of the clergy residing in or near the metropolis was advertised for 
the 17th of July, when it was unanimously agreed to form an As- 
ssociation for the purpose of applying to the legislature for relief. 
This, from the place of meeting, was called The Feathers' Tavern 
Association ; and an excellent petition having been drawn up by 
the Archdeacon, was adopted by the Association and circulated 
through the country with great industry, in order to obtain signa- 
tures previous to the meeting of parliament. 

It is almost needless to add that, in a cause so right and honour- 
able in itself, and so congenial to his principles and feelings, Mr. 
Lindsey exerted himself with more than his usual activity and 
ardour. He undertook to solicit signatures in the extensive dis- 
trict where he resided ; and for the purpose of adding names to 
this venerable list, he spared neither labour nor expense.f For 

* " From the first that I engaged," says Mr. Lindsey, Apology, p. 235, " with 
the associated clergy for procuring the removal of subscription to formularies of faith 
and doctrine drawn up by fallible men, I forsaw that if no relief was obtained, nor 
any prospect opened of a reformation of the liturgy with regard to the great object of 
worship, or of a disposition to indulge a latitude to private persons to make discre- 
tionary alterations in it for themselves by the express rule of Holy Scripture, it would 
certainly terminate, as to myself, in resignation of my office in the church ; and I 
thought this would be a fitting season for it. " 

f In a letter upon this subject to his confidential friend Mr., afterwards Dr., Jebb, 
Mr. Lindsey says, " I own to you, sir, I cannot but be greatly interested in a cause 
in which I bless God that I have an opportunity to engage and declare myself ; and 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



31 



this end, te travelled upwards of two thousand miles at the worst 
season of the year, and often through roads which were almost im- 
passable. But his success did not correspond with his labours 
and his hopes. The majority, as usual, saw no reason for any 
alteration ; the violent and bigoted expressed their abhorrence of 
the undertaking, and calumniated the motives of the petitioners ; 
the cautious and timid were unwilling to commit themselves, and 
thought it more prudent to defer the application and some, of 
whom better hopes were entertained, and who were known to be in 
their judgment friendly to the objects, unexpectedly hesitated and 
drew back at the critical moment, and instead of their signatures 
they could only proffer their good wishes. 

" These well-disposed and good sort of men," says Mr. Lindsey, 
in a letter dated November 19, 1771, written just after his return 
from one of these fruitless circuits, "have done the cause more 
harm than they intended. They may wait long before the season 
of reformation comes, and their brethren of the clergy and the 
governing powers be more inclined to promote it than they are at 
present. May they have no regrets in reflecting that Providence 
put it in their power to bring on the desired season, and propagate 
the requisite dispositions and zeal for relieving the oppressed truth 
of God by their much-wanted example ! I really never expected 
success in this our undertaking ; and still less, since I have had 
cause to observe the desertion of many from whom one might 
have expected better. And yet I do not give it up for gone ; nor 
will those worthy persons who have taken an active part in pro- 
moting it." 

In another letter to the same friend, dated December 21, 1771, 
and written soon after his return from a general meeting of the 
Association in London on the 11th, in which it was finally deter- 

for which I do not know, with the help of God, the pains or sufferings that I would 

refuse. 1 have offered, and if health be permitted will carry the petition to 

Kendal in Westmoreland, to Newcastle in Northumberland, to York and Wakefield ; 
all places at a very great distance from me, and in which labours I am alone without 
any assistance whatever." — See Mr. Joyce's excellent Memoir of Mr. Lindsey in the 
Monthly Magazine for December, 1808. 

* It has been observed by an elegant writer, that the verb refonn wants the present 
tense. 



32 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



mined to present the petition to parliament during the present 
session, after stating the violent opposition which was expected 
from the University of Oxford, from Lord North, from the Metho- 
dists and others, Mr. Lindsey adds,— 

" Be the event, however, what it may, still good, much good, I 
am sure, has arisen, and more will rise from this shaking of the 
stagnant waters, and stirring up of better principles. Political 
statesmen without any principle are afraid of disturbances which 
may hurt the enjoyment of their ease and emoluments. Political 
divines, and reverend unbelievers and half-be) ievers, are still more 
haunted with fears of the like kind. Bigots are enraged at the 
thought of a free, rational examination of the Holy Scriptures. 
Whilst serious and honest men, for such there are in all places, 
rejoice at the Christian and Protestant undertaking." 

The petitioners, though comparatively few in number, not 
amounting to two hundred and fifty, were of high consideration in 
point of talents, of learning, and of moral worth. The names of 
Lindsey, of Blackburne, of Wyvill, of Jebb, of Law, of Disney, 
of Chambers, and many others, are such as would do honour to 
any cause. The majority were clergymen ; the rest were gentlemen 
of the professions of law and medicine, w T ho thus entered their 
protest against the yoke of subscription imposed upon students 
at the universities who had no view to the clerical office. 

It being determined by the Association not to defer the petition 
to another session, the petitioners and their friends were very active 
in soliciting the support of those members of the House of Com- 
mons who might be disposed to listen to their arguments. Their 
reception in general was civil, but not very encouraging. Many 
regarded the object of the petition as frivolous ; and many believed, 
or pretended to believe, that it would be hazardous to meddle with 
the articles. The prevailing opinion was, that the application was 
ill-timed, and that it was best to let religion alone. Some, how- 
ever, who were in the foremost rank for talents, integrity, and 
eloquence, took up the cause with great ardour, and promised 
their most zealous support. The state of the business is thus re- 
presented in a letter from John Lee, Esq., who was afterwards 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



33 



Solicitor-General, to a friend in the country, dated January 31, 
177.2:— 

" It will surprise you who live in the country, and consequently 
have not been informed of the discoveries of the metropolis, to 
hear that the Christian religion is thought to be an object unworthy 
of the least attention ; and that it is not only the most prudent, 
but the most virtuous and benevolent thing in the world to divert 
men's minds from such foolish subjects with all the dexterity that 
can be. This is no exaggeration, I assure you : on the contrary, it 
seems to be the opinion (and their conduct will show it) of nine- 
tenths of both houses of parliament. On Thursday, a committee 
of petitioners waited upon Lord North to apprise him of the 
nature of their application, and to inform themselves of his inten- 
tion concerning this matter. He received them with great cour- 
tesy, commended the decency of the petition itself ; but before he 
parted with them, he told them that all with whom he had con- 
versed were of opinion that innovations would be very improper. 
Mr. Pitt, the nephew of Lord Chatham, has undertaken to second 
the motion, and I am sure he will acquit himself ably. I spoke 
with him on the subject, and he understands it very well. Lord 
George Germaine is hearty in the cause, has studied the contro- 
versy, and speaks admirably. Mr. Dunning has promised me to 
attend it ; and as his abilities are unequalled by any man's I ever 
knew, I hope he will do honour to the cause and to himself. 
Some others there are of less note who will enter into the debate ; 
yet such a general confederacy is there against the measure, that 
I do not believe we shall divide forty members, perhaps not twenty ; 
yet the debate will do honour to the petitioners, though at present 
no good to the cause. Perhaps it may excite an attention to the 
subject ; and who knows what time may do ? This may cure Dr. 
Priestley of writing divinity, which, to be sure, hardly anvbody 
minds. Yet I do not think our sons are more honest, our dau°\h- 
ters more chaste, our liberties more sacred, or our property more 
secure, than in the days when it was thought no dishonour to read 
or to believe the Scripture. ;; 

This able advocate, whose powers were equalled by few, and 

D 



34 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



whose integrity was surpassed by none, the worthy and confidential 
friend of Mr. Lindsey, and Dr. Priestley, and Mr. Turner, was 
engaged to exert his superior abil ties and energetic eloquence 
in pleading the cause which he so well understood, and which he 
had so much at heart, if the petitioners had been permitted 
to be heard by counsel at the bar of the House of Commons. 
" If I attend at the bar," says he, " I will do my utmost to serve 
the petitioners ; but I fear counsel will not be permitted." 

On the 6th of February, 1772, agreeably to the resolution 
of the general meeting, the petition was presented to the House of 
Commons. It was introduced with a very neat and appropriate 
speech by Sir William Meredith, the member for Liverpool ; Lord 
John Cavendish and Sir George Savile having declined the 
office, not from any want of zeal for the cause, but because 
they did not consider themselves as sufficiently masters of the 
subject. It was intended by the Minister that the petition should 
be treated civilly, be laid upon the table, and the consideration of 
it adjourned for six months. It was Lord North's policy, if 
possible, to preclude debate upon so delicate a subject. But the 
intemperate zeal or the secret instructions of Sir Roger Newdigate, 
one of the members for the University of Oxford, a gentleman 
of mild dispositions and exemplary character in private life, 
happily defeated the artful policy of the noble Lord, and gave 
rise to one of the most interesting and animated debates that 
was ever heard in that house ; " a debate," as Mr. Lindsey 
expresses it in a letter to a friend, " which entered gloriously 
into the whole merits of our cause, and which was well worth 
going two hundred and forty miles to hear." It lasted for 
eight hours. Of this debate I will take the liberty to introduce a 
brief account, extracted from a letter of the learned gentleman 
above mentioned to his friend in the country : — 

" Sir William Meredith in a few words informed the House 
that he had in his hands a petition of a number of respectable 
clergy and others, praying relief in the matter of subscription ; and 
therefore he moved that it might be brought up. Mr. T. Pitt 
seconded the motion. On this, Sir Roger Newdigate rose up 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



35 



in great anger, and demanded to know what the contents of 
the petition were, and what the number and names of the 
men who had subscribed it. Sir William then read the petition 
in his place, and a few of the names, adding, that the number 
was about two hundred and fifty. Sir Koger Newdigate then 
began the debate, and opposed with great vehemence the bringing 
up of this petition. In his opinion it aimed at the destruction 
of the church, whose existence depended upon the continuance of 
the articles. Sir Roger spoke contemptuously of the number 
and quality of the petitioners, and sustained with great fortitude 
the character of member for Oxford. He was followed by Mr. 
Hans Stanley, who opposed the bringing up of the petition, 
as it tended to disturb the peace of the country, which, in his 
opinion, ought to be the subject of a fortieth article, which would 
be worth all the thirty-nine.* He was succeeded by Mr. 
Fitzmaurice, who is brother to Lord Shelburne, and spoke on 
the same side, throwing out some very indecent reflections on 
The Confessional and its author, and endeavouring to prove 
the petitioners to be a parcel of canting hypocrites, who, under 
pretence of reformation, meant the ruin of our civil and eccle- 
siastical government. This conduct roused the resentment of 
Mr. Pitt, who with great dignity and good sense observed upon 
the indecency of calumniating any persons appearing in the 
character of petitioners for redress of grievances, more especially 
the persons then applying for relief in a matter that highly 
concerned the purity of religion, the integrity of their own 
minds, and even the morality of the people. He stated very 
well the principles of the Reformation, and fairly inferred from 
them the propriety of the petition. 

"The motion for bringing up the petition was also supported by 
Lord George Germaine, Mr. Sawbridge, Mr. Thomas Townshend, 
Lord John Cavendish, Mr. Dunning, Sir Henry Hoghton., Mr. 
Solicitor-General Weddevburne,t and Sir George Savile. I believe 

* Upon this subject see a very curious letter of Mr. HaDs Stanley to Mr. Lindsey, 
Appendix, No. IV. 

*f The author of this Biographical Memoir is neither inclined nor called upon 
to vindicate Mr. Wedderburne, afterwards Earl of Rosslyn, and Lord High Chancellor 

D 2 



36 



MEMOIRS OF THE I ATE 



Sir George Saviie's speech was one of the best that was ever 
delivered in that house. I can give you no idea of its excellence, 
unless by repeating some parts of it when I have the pleasure 
of seeing you. I cannot help saying, however, that I never 
was so affected with, or so sensible of the power of, pious 
eloquence as while he was speaking. It was not only an honour to 
him, but to his age and country.* Mr. Solicitor- General spoke 

of Great Britain, in the whole of his political conduct. But let it be remembered 
to Lord Rosslyn's praise, that he was always the enlightened advocate of a liberal 
toleration ; and that he was the steady zealous friend and disinterested patron of 
the late learned Edward Evanson, A.M., vicar of Tewkesbury, whom he carried 
triumphantly through a mean and savage persecution instituted against him by a 
few of his parishioners, in opposition to the sense of a decided majority of the 
inhabitants of the town, under pretence of heresy, and because of a few verbal 
alterations or omissio ns in reading the Liturgy. 

* The speeches of Sir William Meredith and of Sir George Savile were afterwards 
written down from memory by Dr. Furneanx, and corrected by Sir W. Meredith him- 
self. Of these speeches, so corrected, I am in possession of a copy, from which I will 
trespass upon the indulgence of the reader by presenting him with a few extracts 
of the admirable speech of Sir George Savile, which he will easily perceive was well 
entitled to the high eulogium of Mr. Lee. The earnestness and fervour with which 
it was delivered manifested how deeply the honourable speaker was impressed with his 
subject, and the house listened from beginning to end with silent astonishment. 

The honourable speaker, after a few preliminary remarks, in which he distinguishes 
between the church of England and the church of God and Christ (with which Sir 
Roger r Newdigate had confounded it), after having stated that adherence to the 
Scriptures only, in opposition to human inventions, was the grand principle of 
Protestantism, and having made some judicious and pointed observations upon some 
of the doctrines which are contained in the articles, proceeds to vindicate the character 
of the petitioner?, and to reply to the objections which had been started in the course 
of the debate. It may be proper to premise that the zealous member for the Uni- 
versity of Oxford had in his speech used words to this effect: " Some, perhaps, may 
ask what is the use of requiting subscription to the thirty-nine articles % All blind 
as they are, cannot they see that the articles are barriers for the protection of the 
church?" It was also fully understood at the time that the beautiful allegory, 
in rep y to this allegation, though mentioned as a quotation, was in fact the extem- 
poraneous suggest ; cn of the eloquent orator's own vivid in agination. 

"I must now, sir, express my very great concern at the manner in which the 
petition, and they who signed it, have been treated. They have been treated in a 
manner very unparliamentary, in a manner that none should be treated who come to the 
bar of this house to tepresent grievances and to solicit redress. Their characters 
have been aspersed : injuiious suspich ns have been thrown out against their designs and 
intentions. I wish many things not to have been said which have been said. The 
petitioners, sir, are clergynen. men of respectable characteis; I verily believe good 
and conscientious n en. We may treat their situation with indifference, because we 
are strangers to it and feel not their difficulty. But let us for a moment put ourselves 
in the place of these petitioners, who are required to bring themselves under a solemn 
obligation on the one hand to preach according to Scripture (which, if it means 
anything, must mean according to what they apprehend to be the sense of Scripture,, 
and on the other, are requ red to declare their belief of articles which in their 



REVEREND THEOFHILUS LINDSEY, 



very well, and gave a very handsome testimony to the character of 
Mr. Blackburne as a learned, pious, virtuous, and venerable man, 

consciences they think contrary to the Scripture, and which few will pretend to believe 

or to unders and. This sir, is a debate in which the honour of God, the 

interests of religion and virtue, our own c< nsciences, and the consciences of others, 
are deeply concerned. Let us. then, hear no more of private characters, of confes- 
sionals, and Feathers' Tavern. I have always thought that the persons of men who 
petition this house were under our protection. The r characters ought to be still more 
so. I therefore beseech you — I beiome a humble and earnest supplicant to you by 
the benevolent spirit of the Gospel, by all that is serious, I beseech ymi by the 
bowels of Christ, that this affair be treated, not as a mattter of policy, not as a matter 
of levity, not as a matter of censoriousness, but as a n atter of religion. 

"Some - gentlemen seem to apprehend that we are to make the doors of the c L urch 
as narrow and to exclude as many as possible. I think we should make them as wide 
as we can to take in as many as possible. Others are apprehensive that, in case 
the Scriptures are substituted in the room of the articles, it will be the means of 
admitting into the church a great number of sectaries. Sectaries ! sir : had it not 
been for sectaries, this cause had been tried at Rome. Thank God, it is tried here. 

" Some gentlemen fear that if we lay aside the articles and place the Scriptures 
in their stead, by t' rowing down all distinctions, we shall admit Papists, and to- 
gether with them their religion too. But they forget that Papists are excluded by the 
oath of suj remacy, and by the declaration against transubstantiation, against the 
invocation of the Virgin Mary and other saints, and against the sacrifice of the 
mass. And if any other test be neediul, let them be made to acknowledge liberty 
of conscience and the right of private judgment ; let them abjure persecution — that 
were a truly Protestant test. But can any one seriously think that encouraging free in- 
quiry and the study of the Scriptures will issue in the Romish religion ? Wl en I see 
a rivulet flow to the top of a high rock, and requiring a st;ong engine to force it tack 
again, then shall I think that freedom of inquiry will be prejudicial to truth — 
then shall I think that liberty of judgment will be prejudicial to the Protestant 
religion — then shall I think that adhering to the Scriptures only will lead to Piome. 

" Some gentlemen talk of 'raising barriers about the church of God. and protecting 
his honour.' Language that is astonishing, that is shocking, tha almost approaches to 
blasphemy. What ! man 1 a poor, vile, contemptible reptile, talk of raising barriers 
about the church of God ! He might as well talk of protecting Omnipotence, and 
raising barriers about his throne. Barriers about the church of God, sii ! about that 
church, which, if there be any veracity in Scripture shall continue for ever, and against 
which the gates of hell shall not prevail? If I may be allowed on so serious an 
occasion to recollect a fable, it puts me in mind of one which I have met with, 
of a stately, magnificent, impregnable castle built on a rock, the basis of which whs the 
centre of the earth, the top of it pierced the clouds, the thickness of the wal s could 
not be measured by cubits. At the bottom of it a few moles were one day very 
busy in raising up a little quantity of earth, which when some mice saw, "What aie you 
doing, said they, to disturb the tranquillity of the lord of this castle? We are net 
disturbing his tranquillity, replied the moles ; all Hind as you are, you may see that we 
are only throwing up a rampart to protect his castle. 

"The church of God, sir, can protect itself. Truth needs not be afraid of not 
obtaining the victory on a fair trial. The lovers of truth will love all sincere inquirers 
after it, though they may differ from them in various religious sentiments. For it is to 
impartial and free inquiry only that error owes its ruin and truth its success. Those 
who are penetrated with the benevolent spirit of the gospel will not condemn as 
heret ; cs, will not reject as unworthy of their affection, any who believe the Christian 



38 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



and vindicated his book as an excellent and entertaining per- 
formance. The speakers on the opposite side were Sir Roger 
Newdigate, Mr. Fitzmaurice, Lord Folkstone, Mr. Byrne, Lord 
North, Mr. Charles Fox, Mr. Burke, Mr. Dyson, Mr. Jenkinson, 
Mr. Stanley, Dr. Hay, and Mr. Cooper. Nobody but Sir Roger 
Newdigate attempted to defend the articles. And all the house 
explicitly declared it was foolish to require subscription at the 
university, and expressed a wish that it might be laid aside 
there. 

" After a very fine debate the house divided ; the numbers 
for not receiving the petition were two hundred and seventeen — 
for receiving it, seventy-one — which, considering the influence of 
the bishops and ministry, and the character and weight of the 
minority, was thought a very great affair. The clergy petitioners 
were delighted with the debate, all of them that were in town 
being admitted to hear it. Dr. Hallifax, of Cambridge, was 
in the gallery, and seemed disappointed that his violent nonsense 
had produced so little effect on the house. This scene was acted 
yesterday, beginning at three and ending at eleven o'clock/" 

" The XXXIX. Articles/' says Mr. Lindsey^ in a letter of nearly 
the same date to the same friend, " underwent such a scrutiny, and 
had such a just exposition, that the civil power must soon be 
ashamed of imposing what not one of our adversaries de- 
fended, except Sir Roger ; and many of them gave them up. 

religion, who search and endeavour to understand the Scriptures, though they may be 
unable to comply with creeds and articles. 

"Some gentlemen suppose that the Scriptures are not plain enough to be a rule and 
centre of union to the church. They must have articles and creeds to supply its 
defects. But if the things which are necessary to salvation are not plainly revealed, there 
is no way of salvation revealed to the bulk of mankind at all. Whatever is obscurely 
revealed will be always obscure, notwithstanding our decisions. It can never be 
authoritatively determined by men. The only authority which can explain it, and 
make the explanation a test of faith, is the authority of God. As to what he has 
plainly revealed, it needs no articles to ascertain its meaning. We should not then 
adopt views and measures which are contracted and narrow. We should not set bars in 
the way of those who are willing to enter and labour in the church of God. When the 
d'sciples came to Christ and complained that there were some who cast out devils in 
his name, and said, We forbad them because they followed not us — what did our 
Saviour do] Did he send them tests and articles to be subscribed] Did he ask them 
whether they believed this, or that, or the other doctrine] whether they were Athana- 
sians, or Arians, or Arminians 1 No. He delivered that comprehensive maxim — He 
that is not against me is for me. Go ye, and say likewise." 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LIXDSEY. 



39 



<c Burke declaimed most violently against us in a long speech, 
but entirely like a Jesuit, and full of popish ideas ; the multi- 
farious strange compound of the book called the Scriptures; the 
uncertainty ^vhat were the Scriptures; the necessity of a priest- 
hood; of men in society, religious as well as other, giving up their 
right of private judgment, &c, &c. 

" Can it be true?"" continued Mi\ Lindsey; "I hope not; but 
it is said, and suspected, that this man spoke the sentiments of 
his patron, Lord Rockingham. The persuasion, however, does 
my Lord Marquis no good in the esteem of judicious men. 

" Though defeated/'' adds he, "we sing a victory; as truth and 
reason were all for us, and overpowered only by power; and we 
are not disheartened, but in high spirits, with thankfulness to the 
good providence of God so happily disposing things; and shall 
certainly not give up the cause, though what steps next are to be 
taken we cannot say. 93 

So little interest did the Dissenters take in this application of 
the clergy, that only two of the General Body of Dissenting 
ministers happened to be present at this memorable debate. 
These were, indeed, gentlemen of the first eminence and re- 
spectability among their brethren ; the late Reverend Edward 
Pickard,* minister of the congregation at Carter Lane, a gentle- 

* Let it be permitted to one who. after an interval of more than thirty years, enter- 
tains a grateful and unabated sense of many and important obligations, to bear a humble 
testimony to the distinguished, but retiring and unobtrusive, merit of the friend of his 
youth. The Reverend Edward Pickard was born at Alcester, in Warwickshire, a.d. 
1714, of reputable and pious parents. He was educated in high Calvinistic principles, 
and after he had finished bis studies under the Reverend and learned. J. Eames, F.R.S., 
he settled with a congregation at Stratford-upon-Avon. The excellence of his under- 
standing a<-d the benevolence of his heart, combined with a serious and diligent study 
of the Scriptures, soon led him to discard the gloomy system in which he had been 
brought up, pnd to embrace the more rational hypothesis of Arianism, which was then 
in the zenith of its glory, being supported by the great abilities, learning, ar.d reputation 
of Dr. Clarke. Mr. ^Yhiston, Dr. Daniel Scott, and others. To this opinion Mr. Pickard 
ever afterwards adhered. His deviation from the orthodox creed having created 
uneasiness in his situation at Stratford, he removed to London and was at first settled 
with a small congregation in the boroiuh. But his eminent talents were not destined 
to remain long in obscurity. And in 1746, upon the accession of Mr. Newman to the 
pastoral office in the flourishing congregation at Carter Lane, in the room of Dr. AVright, 
Mr. Pickard was chosen afternoon preacher; and, upon the death of Mr. Newman, a.d. 
1759, he was appointed sole pastor, and continued in that connection, happy, useful, and 
beloved, beyond the common lot till his own decease in February, 1778. Mr. Pickard 



40 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



man distinguished by benevolence of heart and urbanity of man- 
ners, who was afterwards Chairman of the Committee for conducting 

had great pulpit talents. He was, indeed, no professed orator; and perhaps he enter- 
tained too great a prejudice against the artificial helps of public elocution. But his 
roice was clear and strong, his matter was judicious well composed, interesting, and 
practical. He spoke as one who deeply felt the power of religious truth. In prayer, 
he chiefly excelled. In variety of thought, in copiousness of lauguage, in simplicity, 
in propriety and pertinence to the occasion, in pathos, and in fervour of devotion, he 
was unequalled. No one could hesitate in preferring free prayer to written or public 
forms, if all could pray like Mr. Pickard. He rivetted the attention and captivated the 
heart. And it was the same in the more private and family ciicle as in public. His 
public services did not indeed attract the crowd, but they delighted the intelligent, the 
judicious, and the devout, and have been honoured more than once by the attendance 
of dignitaries of the highest order in the established church. 

Mr. Pickard possessed talents which qualified him eminently for conducting business. 
"What he planned with calm and cool deliberation and advice, he executed with promp- 
titude, with vigour, and with perseverance. And his kindness of heart and conciliatory 
manners made it a pleasure to every one to transact business with him. He was a 
leading and active member in many important trusts. He was chairman of the com- 
mittee for that application to parliament which originated with him, for the relief of 
Protestant Dissenting ministers, tutors, and schoolmasters; and in this office he con- 
ducted himself with a degree of prudence and activity which commanded universal 
approbation. His conduct in this affair was, indeed, severely, not to say rudely, 
attacked, in an anonymous pamphlet, by an author who did not at that time fully 
appreciate his worth. But at the next general meeting of the three denominations, 
which was most numerously attended, Mr. Pickard, as chairman, delivered a most excellent 
speech, which he was strongly solicited to publish, stating and defending his own con- 
duct and that of his brethren of the committee, and repelling the attack which had been 
made upon him and them, with a spirit, truth and energy, which gave complete satis- 
faction to the audience, and even to the accuser himself, who was present, and who was 
ready frankly to acknowledge that he had not formed a just estimate of Mr. Pickard's 
character and talents.* 

In the American war, and in the party politics of the time, Mr. Pickard took a side 
opposite to that of Dr. Price and most of his Dissenting brethren. This he did honestly 
and conscientiously, and without any improper or interested bias of mind. He was a 
man of a truly independent spirit, and disdained to be the tool of a party. And when 
the Minister of the Crown, knowing his character, his political principles, and his weight 
among the Dissenters, offered him the whole management of the Regium Donum he abso- 
lutely declined having any concern in it at all, that he might not give the shadow of 
pretence for the allegation that he was warped in his political principles by court 
lav our. 

Mr. Pickard died after a short illness, in February, 1778, in the sixty-seventh year 
of his age. And very few in a smilar situation have been more justly, more generally, 
or more deeply lamented. It is much to be regretted that his great humility and 
modesty, together with his numerous avocations, did not permit him to instruct and 
edify the Christian world from the press as well as from the pulpit. But he has left 



* The anonymous assailant was Dr. Priestley, who has, to the author himself, 
acknowledged his error with respect to the qualifications and merits of Mr. Pickard ; 
and the gentleman who requested that the speech might be published was Mr. Turner, 
of Wakefield. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY, 



41 



the application of the Dissenting ministers to Parliament for relief ; 
and the learned Philip Furneaux, D.D., minister of the congrega- 
tion at Claphain, well known to the public by his Letters to Mr. 
Justice Blackstone upon the subject of Toleration, and whose 
memory was so correct and tenacious, that having taken down 
from recollection the celebrated speech of Lord Mansfield in the 
House of Peers, in the great Dissenting cause, concerning the 
liability of Dissenters to serve the office of sheriff, and having 
shown it to the noble and learned Lord for his correction, it was 
returned by Lord Mansfield with very few alterations, and with 
his express consent to publish it as his genuine speech : which 
Dr. Furneaux has accordingly done in the Appendix to the second 
edition of his Letters to the learned Judge. In the course of 
the debate, many of the speakers who opposed the petition of the 
clergy, and particularly Lord North, who, having with his usual 
good-humour observed, that he saw r no ground to complain of 
intolerance in times when every one was permitted to go to heaven 
in their own way, remarked, that had a similar application been 
made by the Dissenting clergy, who derived no emoluments from 
the church whose articles they were compelled to subscribe, he 
could see no reasonable objection to it. These two reverend 
gentlemen, talking the matter over with each other after the 
debate was closed, and consulting with some others of their 
brethren, summoned the General Body of Dissenting ministers of 
the Three Denominations, w T ho concurred in an application to 
parliament the next year, for relief from the obligation to sub- 
scribe the articles of the established church, in order to secure 
the benefits of the Toleration Act. And though they were for a 
time vehemently opposed by bigots, both of their own body and of 
the establishment, and though the bill for their relief, having 
twice passed the House of Commons, was twice rejected by the 
Lords; yet a few years afterwards, a.d. 1778, the times becoming 

one splendid and lasting monument of his philanthropy and piety, the Dissenters' 
Orphan School, in the City Road; of which noble and useful institution I believe that 
I am correct in saying that the idea originated with him ; at least, it will be allowed 
that he was one of its first founders, and of its most able, most unwearied, and most 
successful managers and advocates. 



42 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



more favourable, the bill for their relief passed both Houses al- 
most unanimously, and received the Royal assent. So that at 
present Dissenting ministers, tutors, and schoolmasters, are en- 
titled to all the benefits of the Toleration Act, by making a 
declaration, in addition to the oaths usually required, that they 
receive the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as con- 
taining a divine revelation. 

The associated clergy having resolved, notwithstanding their 
late defeat, to renew their application for relief the next session of 
parliament, Mr. Lindsey, though his hopes of success were less 
than ever, did not deem it expedient at this juncture to carry into 
effect his resolution of resignation. This, however, he plainly 
foresaw must soon happen ; and in the mean time he fortified his 
mind by reading Calamy's Account of the Ministers who were 
ejected for nonconformity in the year 1662, and by collecting 
materials for a history of persons who had suffered for their pro- 
fession of Unitarian principles. Upon the former subject he 
thus expresses himself, in a letter to a friend, dated April 12, 
1772:— 

" I never was more affected with any book than with Calainy's 
History of those w T orthy confessors that gave up all in the cause 
of Christ, and for a good conscience, at the Restoration. No 
time or country ever did furnish at once such a list of Christian 
heroes; and I fear our own country now would fall far short of 
furnishing so large a number upon a like trying occasion. But it 
was the effect of their Puritan education. They had learned to 
fear God from their youth, and to fear nothing else." 

He further adds to the same correspondent, in reference to the 
plan which he was himself pursuing, of collecting materials for a 
similar history, — 

" As it was your own obliging offer, I need not ask you, as it falls 
in your way, to inquire out, and to note down for me, any such 
good witnesses of our own days. And I will endeavour that their 
names and example may not be wholly lost." 

In another letter, dated May 10, 1772, he observes, — 

" If I did not sufficiently in my last, I ought to acknowledge 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



43 



myself highly indebted to you for the pains you have taken, and 
are taking, in the inauiry first started to me by you, though 
thought of by me, and to which you so willingly lend your aid. 
Their names have gone up for a memorial before God, who have 
suffered for the testimony of Jesus, and nobly refused to worship 
the beast and his image. But surely their memory should live, 
and be preserved upon earth for the benefit of the present and 
succeeding times. But such materials are slowly collected, and 
hardly to be come at by us of the church; and, to our shame be 
it said, fall more in your way. Therefore I will beg you, at your 
utmost leisure, to go on as you have begun. " 

Mr. Lindsey, though his own mind was fully made up as to the 
step which he would take if the application of the associated 
clergy did not succeed, was very cautious of dropping any hint 
of his intention, even to his most intimate friends, till the time 
approached when it would be necessary for him to take public and 
decisive measures. The first allusion which he makes to his own 
secret purpose, in his correspondence with Mr. Turner, is in a 
letter dated June 2, 1772. 

" What will further be attempted in our affair," says he, " I 
know not; but I trust we shall agree still to do something. For 
my own particular, if no disposition to reformation appear, and 
nothing be done, I do not know where things will end." 

The associated clergy judging it expedient not to renew their 
application to parliament at the ensuing session in the spring of 
1773, Mr. Lindsey, who never expected any reformation to be 
introduced which would relieve his scruples with respect to con- 
formity, conceiving that he had now protracted his resignation to 
the utmost limit that the most cautious prudence could require, 
and having now an open course before him, determined forthwith 
to relinquish his preferment at the close of the current year. 
And in the mean time lie employed himself in preparation for this, 
to him, very important event — not, indeed, by hoarding up a 
purse of money for the support of himself and Mrs. Lindsey 
while he continued out of office, and unprovided with the means 
of subsistence : for this was not his chief concern. True to the last 



44 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



to the generous principle that the income arising from a parish 
should be employed for the benefit of the parishioners, both he 
and Mrs. Lindsey, as we are informed by his amiable biographer, 
who was eye-witness to the fact, continued their accustomed 
charities, and had this year the additional expense of inoculating 
all the poor children in the parish, the small-pox being then very 
fatal in the neighbourhood, Mrs. Lindsey attended them in per- 
son, gave them all their medicines, and was so successful in her 
attendance, that she did not lose a single patient.* Mr. Lind- 
sey, in the mean time, employed himself in drawing up and print- 
ing a copious and learned Apology to the public, which in its 
original state contained a large and comprehensive view of the 
arguments for the Unitarian doctrine, But, upon reconsideration 
and by advice of his friends, he considerably reduced the size of 
the volume, comprising what was most material, and what related 
to himself personally, in a smaller work, which was to be ready 
for publication immediately upon his resignation; and judiciously 
reserving the more elaborate portion of the argument to be pub- 
lished afterwards, at a more convenient season, as a Sequel to the 
Apology. In the mean time, as opportunity offered, he communi- 
cated his purpose without reserve to his confidential friends. 

In the beginning of the year 1773, some letters in a newspaper 
appeared under the signature Lselius, which discussed the question 
concerning the conformity of clergymen who in their judgment 
and conscience disapproved of the doctrine and worship of the 
established church. Upon this subject Mr. Lindsey thus feelingly 
expresses himself, in a letter to a friend dated March 2 : — " The 
subject of Lselius's last letter may give one many a pang. I 
cannot say that I have been, for many years, a day free from 
uneasiness about it."f 

The interesting posture of his mind, as the crisis approached, 
he thus pathetically describes to his friend Mr. Turner, who seems 
to have been almost the only person admitted to his entire confi- 
dence. The letter is dated June 13, 1773. "It is not possible 

* Mrs. Cappe's Memoir of Mr. Lindsey, Month, Rep. vol. iii. p. 641. 
f Monthly Mag. December, 1808, p. 448. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



45 



to describe to you the straits and anxieties of mind which one 
person daily passeth through — not through any doubts of the thing 
itself, but lest he should have deserved to be laid by, lest there 
should be anything to reproach himself with hereafter, lest he 
should suffer unprofitably as to himself ; for a man may give all 
his goods to the poor, and his body to be burned, and yet want 
charity ; may make the greatest sacrifices, and yet want the 
proper disposition to make them acceptable. TThat need has one 
daily to cry with the psalmist, ' Make me a clean heart, 0 God, 
and renew a right spirit within me ! * You will hence observe, it 
was not lightly that the last word said at K. at parting, was 
c Ora, Orate pro nobis / and you gave me comfort in the assurance 
of this your way of remembrance. And I would beg another 
person not to be forgotten, who has indeed the true spirit of a 
Christian, and has been more than ready to do everything ; but 
who must be exposed to one knows not what, and there must be a 
great change from what is at present. These things are hinted 
darkly to you, for which there is a reason. But there is a relief 
in it, and the more, as it is to no one else whatsoever, now Dr. P. 
is gone." 

To the same friend, at the same time, he sent his Apology and 
its Appendix, now finished and ready for the press, requesting at 
the same time his free and impartial strictures. " You will find 
it run out," says he, (( longer than you would think. But one 
thing drew on another. And it seemed to me necessary to com- 
plete my plan. I will not be ashamed to own to you that it has 
cost me some pains. And some things seem to be set in a 
stronger light than 1 have seen them ; and some I had not seen 
observed before. When I have borrowed, I have fairly owned it. 
You know what severity of judgment, perhaps unkind, it is to 
pass through; and therefore I beg you will be severe beforehand, 
and also suggest any improvements which may occur to you." 
And in his next letter, dated June 21, he says, "I beg you will 
particularly mark any expression or sentiment that savoureth of 
pride or obstinacy, or contempt of others^ opinions, or that is 
deficient in a proper and humble sense of myself." So solicitous 



46 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



was this excellent man that he might be influenced by none but 
the purest and most disinterested motives in all he did, or suffered, 
or wrote, through the whole of this arduous concern. 

At the latter end of July, Mr. Lindsey was invited to preach 
the Assize sermon at York; of which opportunity he availed 
himself to bear his testimony to the cause of the petitioning 
clergy. This discourse gave great satisfaction to a liberal and 
enlightened audience, and the preacher was much solicited to print 
it. But as the bulk of it had been composed only for his country 
parishioners, to which a few additions had been made for the 
purpose of adapting it to the occasion, Mr. Lindsey did not think 
it worthy the public eye. Had it occurred to him that he might 
possibly be requested to publish, he would have been better pre- 
pared. And he expresses his regret to his friend, that "an 
opportunity of bearing a more public and useful testimony had 
been lost by him." 

Soon after his return from York he made a visit to Alnwick 
Castle, " the noble owners of it having invited him in such a way, 
that in this juncture he thought it wrong to decline it, however 
inconvenient." He regarded it as proper upon this occasion to 
drop a hint to his illustrious friends of the important measure 
which he had in contemplation, not without some faint hope that, 
in some shape or other, some little effort might have been made 
to serve him, some temporary r relief might have been offered. 
Happily, no such idea entered into the minds of the noble 
inhabitants of that princely mansion. On the contrary, "his 
words seemed to them as idle tales." Nor did it fall within the 
comprehension of persons of their high rank and dignity, that it 
was possible for a person of Mr. Lindsey's good understanding, 
for the sake of a few trifling scruples, to quit a situation of 
respectability and affluence, and expose himself and the person in 
the world who was the dearest to him to all the miseries of 
poverty and dependence. The disappointment of his expectations 
from the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland does not appear 
to have given Mr. Lindsey one moment's uneasiness. Before he 
set out for Alnwick he had written to his friend, f- If God be with 



REVEREND 



THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



47 



us and go along with us in all we do, and wherever we go, we 
shall prosper. I trust, I desire to do his will more ardently than 
ever." And after his return, August 10, he briefly states : — ■ 
* My late journey was undertaken in view of ray approaching 
affair, and to try something towards procuring a viaticum for the 
pilgrims. But I cannot say it has answered. Xobody will 
believe any one can be in earnest to take such a step."* 

Mr. Lindsey was no fanatic who fancied merit in voluntary 
poverty. He had enjoyed and had duly valued and improved the 
blessings of affluence. Nor could anything but an imperious 
sense of duty have induced him to forego them. He is not, 
therefore, to be blamed for using any prudent and honourable 
means of saving himself and Mrs. Lindsey from falling at once 
into an abyss of poverty, m which they would be left to struggle 
with difficulties unaccustomed and unknown. It could be no 
offence to say, " Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away 
from me;" provided that it was added, as in this case it certainly 
was, with the most entire resignation of spirit, " nevertheless, not 
our will, but thine, be done." And it was the wise and merciful 
design of Providence that this venerable confessor's faith and 
principle should be tried to the utmost. Nor indeed would it 
have been possible for Mr. Lmdse^s character to have appeared 
with equal brilliancy and effect, nor could the purity of his own 
motives have been so evident, even to himself, if immediately 
upon his resignation of the vicarage of Catterick he had found a 

* This disappointment wa* not orving to any personal dislike, or to any indifference 
in his noble patrons to the concerns of their venerable friend. On the contrary, they 
took a very lively interest in his future fortunes. And after he came to reside in 
London, on the very day in which he opened the chappl in Essex Street, when there 
was some apprehension that Mr. Lindsey might incur personal danger, the Duchess 
herself called at his humble ; partment-, after the morning service, to inquire after the 
safetv of the revered confessor. But the^e illustrious persons, having offered him tl e 
highest preferment which it was in their power to confer, when Mr. Lindsey resigned 
his connection with the established church, probably considered him as having placed 
himse'f without the sphere of their patronage. Xor did it occur to them, nor would 
Mr. Lindsey's delicacy permit him to insinuate the most distant hint, to what a state 
of depression and dependence he had reduced himself by his magnanimous conduct. 
Afterwards, when his situation came to be better understood, a liberal present was 
made to his venerated preceptor by the late illustrious possessor of the title, which was 
continued annually till Mr. Lindsey's decease. 



48 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



safe and splendid asylum in Northumberland House. It was 
therefore expedient for him, and for the cause which he had at 
heart, that he should be taught not only to be ready, but actually 
to suffer the loss of all things for the sake of truth and of a good 
conscience, 

The disappointment at Alnwick Castle produced a very slight 
and momentary impression. A far severer conflict awaited Mr. 
Lindsey when he came to reveal his purpose to Mrs. Lindsey's 
relations, to Archdeacon Blackburne, her stepfather, who loved 
her as his own daughter, who from principle utterly disapproved 
the measure of leaving the church, and who could express his 
disapprobation with a strength and energy of language, which, 
though it could not shake Mr. Lindsey' s purpose, might greatly 
agitate his feelings ; and to Mrs. Blackburne, who, if she did not 
disapprove the principle of Mr. Lindsey's conduct, would feel 
most bitterly the inevitable consequence — that of tearing from her 
arms a beloved daughter who was the chief solace and support of 
her advancing years. This disclosure, so much dreaded, was 
indeed deferred by Mr. Lindsey perhaps beyond the time which 
strict propriety would justify, of which his friend at Wakefield 
appears to have given him a gentle hint. In reply to which, 
upon his return from Alnwick, he writes, "In my next I shall 
perhaps be able to tell you how the notification is received by one 
to whom you wished it to be made." This communication was 
made in the month of September ; and the result of it, and the 
impression it made upon his mind, he thus concisely but feelingly 
describes in a letter dated September 17 : — 

" What I said to you then (alluding to his last letter) I can ill 
recollect; for I had been then, and was some time after, under 
such agitations of mind in disclosing a certain important matter 
to some friends, that I was hardly master of myself to do any- 
thing properly. Something of this kind I could not avoid even 
at York. But all such trials are now over. Affliction, great, you 
will readily believe on the side of a loving mother and justly 
beloved daughter, on the prospect of so sudden a removal to such 
a distance ! But it gives place to better sentiments, and trust in 



REVEREND THEOPHTLUS LINDSEY. 



49 



Providence. I cannot say the matter is so kindly taken by others. 
But such things are to be expected ; and they may be of service to 
prepare for coldness, neglect, misrepresentation, and unkindness 
from the world, and to lead to depend only on Him who never 
faileth those who in well-doing put their trust in Him." 

It was about the same time that he communicated his intention 
and his motives in a letter to another respectable correspondent 

" I think," says he, "you must have perceived in my letters, 
perhaps in my conversation, a dissatisfiedness with our ecclesias- 
tical impositions, and a tendency to relieve myself from them. 
This indeed had taken place long before our association was 
formed, and the execution only suspended and retarded by it, 
though some pleasing expectation was formed, that Providence 
might unexpectedly give such a turn to our endeavours as might 
make me easy, or give me liberty to make myself easy. But as 
my chief dissatisfaction is with those Trinitarian forms which per- 
vade the whole liturgy, all hope of that kind is entirely cut off. 
The resolution I have formed of retiring has been absolutely fixed 

* See the Memoir in the Monthly Magazine, ibid. p. 448. This correspondent was 
the celebrated Dr. John Jebb, so well known and so honourably distinguished by the 
learned and instructive Critical and Theological Lectures which he delivered at 
Cambridge ; by his zealous, active, and in part successful exertions to improve the 
system of education in the university, and to excite a laudable spirit of emulation 
among the students by frequent examinations and honorary premiums ; and to abolish 
or to mitigate the yoke of subscription to the thirty-nine articles. This gentleman, 
however, finding his efforts for reformation in a great measure fruitless, resigned his 
preferment in the church, and afterwards took his degree in medicine, and entered upon 
practice in the metropolis with great reputation and success; but he died a few years 
afterwards, in the meridian of life, at the age of fifty-three. — See Dr. Disney's 
interesting Memoir of Dr. Jebb, prefixed to the collection of his works. Dr. Jebb did 
not actually quit his situation in the church till some time after the resignation of his 
friend Mr. Lindsey. But it is remarkable that the letters of the two friends, com- 
municating to each other their respective resolutions to that effect, crossed upon the 
road. Dr. Jebb, as he was the active and energetic coadjutor of Mr. Lindsey in the 
business of the clerical association, so he was, with Mr. Turner, his confidential friend 
and adviser in all his subsequent proceedings and difficulties, particularly concerning 
the opening of the chapel in Essex Street, and the alterations in the Liturgy. Mr. 
Lindsey also submitted his various publi.ations to the revisal of Dr. Jebb, and derived 
much benefit from his critical remaiks upon difficult and disputed texts. It was the 
earnest desire of Mr. Lindsey that his pious and learned friend slnuld have been 
associated with him as his colleague in Essex Street. But this Dr. Jebb declined ; 
though afterwards when he was settled in London, he was a constant worshipper in 
Mr. Lindsey 's chapel, and a most zealous and decided advocate for Unitarian principles, 
and supporter of the sole worship and unrivalled supremacy of the One God, the Father 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. 



E 



50 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



for some time, and will take place in a few months. It was 
absolutely necessary for my own peace with God, which is to be 
preferred above all considerations. But I have found great diffi- 
culties and opposition already, and expect to find more. My 
greatest comfort and support, under God, is my wife, who is a 
Christian indeed, and worthy of a better fate in worldly things 
than we have a prospect of ; for we leave a station of ease and 
abundance, attended with many other agreeable circumstances. 
But, thanks be to God, we have not given way to ease and indul- 
gence, and can be content with little." 

In the month of October, Mr. Lindsey writes to his friend, 
" that their courage and trust in God did not relax, though 
difficulties and discouragements increased ; and that, if these 
produced the effect of bringing them nearer to God, and to more 
entire reliance upon him, whatever might befall them they would 
have reason to be thankful." 

On the 12th of November, Mr Lindsey wrote to his diocesan, 
Dr. Markham, then Bishop of Chester, afterwards Archbishop of 
York, to inform him of his intention to resign his vicarage, and 
that in a few days he should wait upon his Lordship with the 
legal instrument of his resignation. On the same day he wrote 
a long letter to Dr. Jebb, in which he says, " I have never had 
the least doubt, from the first moment I resolved on the step I 
am now about to take, but that it was right, and my duty. I 
have had some subsequent hope, too, that it might serve our 
cause, and the cause of God's truth. I bless the God of heaven 
for myself, and my wife, who is destined to bear a great part of 
the burden, that as difficulties increase (and they must increase 
the nearer the time approaches), our resolution and courage in- 
crease. And I have no doubt but the promises made to the 
faithful servants will be fulfilled to us ; that we shall have strength 
proportioned to our trial and want of it." * 

* In another letter to the same friend, dated December 5, 1773, Mr. Lindsey writes : 
" I have always had great satisfaction and information in your letters, and in your 
later ones much comfort and encouragement. If I had been opposed and condemned 
by all my friends, by all the world, in what I have been long meditating and have 
now accomplished, I must have done it. The track of duty was so plain and straight, 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LIXDSEY. 



51 



On the same day he wrote a letter to his friend Mr. Turner, 
who had proposed to recommend him to a congregation of liberal 
Dissenters at the Octagon Chapel, Liverpool, which was then in 
want of a minister. In this letter he expresses his deep sense of 
his friend's kindness, and his own further views and purposes, in 
the following terms : — 

" I must ever say that I have had no such consolation from 
any one as from you, during the conflict and trial which the 
providence of God has cast upon me. You have ever been leading 
to the right point of view 7 in which to consider it, and suggesting 
the most animating motives for encouragement under it. And 
not satisfied with doing this, your last convinces me of your 
earnest desire to contribute your endeavours to procure me an 
establishment when I quit this, which may preserve some degree 
of usefulness which I anxiously w^ish, and serve for that worldly 
support which we shall want. But with regard to w T hat you 
kindly suggest, I believe it will be best to wait, and not lay out 
for anything of this kind at present, though no less obliged to 
you than if you procured me success in it. My reason is, that 
my design, which I specify very particularly in my tract, is to 
try to gather a church of Unitarian Christians out of the esta- 
blished church. My hope is, that it may please Providence to 
excite some Philadelphia/is in our church to favour such a design. 
And when I go to towm, which will be in the beginning of the 
winter, I shall do all I can to forward it; with hope, I said before, 
not very sanguine however, for serious religion is not the tone 
and temper of the times. But attempts must be made in such 
matters oftentimes when there are even greater improbabilities of 

I must have been abandoned to every moral principle not to have gone in it. I have 
no doubt I shall have increasing joy in what I have done, to the latest day of my life. 
And I feel myself delivered from a load which has long lain heavy upon me, and at 
times nearly overwhelmed me. I shall be still more happy if what I thought myself 
called upon to speak to the public in my own behalf, but more in the cause of oppressed 
truth, may but serve its interests. The Bishop of Chester, my diocesan, has behaved 
with great friendliness, and kindly wished and sought to have prevented my taking 
such a step. And the same has been endeavoured by other great friends lately, and 
various expedients proposed. But I now only wonder I did not sooner make my 
retreat; and I am persuaded that will be the general cry of many when they see my 
book." 

E 2 



52 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



accomplishing them. I could wish, and I think it my duty, to 
be instrumental in bringing those who are now in the darkness 
in which I was bred up to the acknowledgment and worship of 
the One true God, through the mediation and according to the 
true doctrine of our Saviour Christ, rather than attach myself to 
those who are already emancipated from that darkness. And we 
are walling to expend what little we have for that end for a year 
or two in town, and make the trial. Should it fail, I should be 
glad to be useful in any congregation where the worship of the 
true God is allowed and professed. As to future provision, 
though gloomy thoughts for a moment have sometimes come 
across the mind, we have no doubt but our own industry and the 
friends that Providence will raise will furnish everything needful 
for it. 

" On Sunday last I took my leave of two of the chapels in my 
parish, that lie at a good distance off, near the moors, a poor 
simple-minded people, who much affected me by the concern 
they showed and expressed in words at my telling them that I 
should never more speak to them from that place ; and all desired 
to have the little tract w 7 hich I mentioned I should distribute 
amongst them, and which would give them an account of the 
reasons why I left them."* 

* This excellent and affecting little tract, from which large extracts have been made 
in the preceding part of this Memoir, was originally intended for private circulation 
only among Mr. Lindsey's parishioners, but by the desire of many judicious friends it 
was afterwards published. Mr. Turner, in a letter to a friend (Mr. Astley, of Chester- 
field) to whom he sent a copy of this Farewell Address, says, u I think you will be 
pleased with the simplicity of the composition, as well as with the integrity and good- 
ness of heart manifested in it. In short, it bears the very spirit and character of the 
man." Of the effect produced by it in the district where it was first circulated, Mr. 
Lindsey thus expresses himself in a letter to Dr. Jebb, dated December 5, 1773 : " I 
may not omit to mention, though I ought not perhaps to do it, but you will be glad to 
know that my resignation has excited a spirit of serious inquiry not only in this parish 
but in this neighbourhood to a pretty wide extent. The little sheet I gave away is 
much sought for, and all seem to think it a sore thing that we should not be ruled by 
the Bible al^ne, and that their ministers should be put on praying to any but the true 
God whom the holy prophets prayed to, and our Saviour Christ not only prayed to 
himself, but ordered us to pray to the Heavenly Father and no other." He adds : 
" To my great surprise I have found, at this trial of them, all my large parish, even the 
honest and serious day labourers, not only petitioners, but Unitarians." It may per- 
haps be doubted whether this excellent man was not somewhat too sanguine in the 
credit he gave to the effect produced by his doctrine and example upon the mass of his 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



53 



" With such deliberate and cheerful resolution/' says his 
worthy correspondent, in a letter to a friend dated a few days 
afterwards, " does this confessor to what he conceives to be the 
truth of the gospel resign a certain establishment for dependence 
and poverty. The glorious triumvirate, Robertson, Chambers,* 

parishioners. At any rate, it is to be feared that the valuable impression is now almost, 
if not altogether, effaced. The good seed fell by the wayside, and the fowls of the air 
devoured it; or among thorns, which grew up and choked it; or on stony ground, where 
it soon withered. Haply some may have fallen on good ground, where, in the shade of 
obscurity, unknown and unnoticed by the world, but not unobserved by that eye to 
which all things are open, it may still diffuse a refreshing fragrance and bring forth 
abundant fruit. 

How much the parishioners were affected by their separation from their beloved and 
venerated pastor, may be learned from the following testimony of one who was present 
at his valedictory discourse. " Indeed," says the writer, " I think no one could hear 
that sermon without being struck and affected. The whole congregation was dissolved 
in tears; even children caught the infection; and the old men crowded about the church 
door when the preacher passed along, as if the peace of their few remaining days de- 
pended on a farewell benediction." " His life," says one of his near neighbours, a 
man of sense and education, in reply to some foolish and anonymous calumnies in the 
York Chronicle, "and conversation have been uniform and consistent, without spot or 
blemish, and his active and devout disposition of mind has rendered him no less 
eminently great than useful. Those who knew him best admired him most. He did 
not, like too many of his profession, merely preach, but he practised virtue. His ex- 
ample was as worthy imitation as his precepts. Most assiduous and attentive in every 
department of his holy function, he was an ornament to the church, and the most rare 
example of disinterested integrity which thi3 age or perhaps this country has produced. 
Far unlike our modern churchmen, whose views are all directed on preferments, the 
kingdom that he sought was not of this world. He yearly expended in acts of noble 
benevolence the whole revenue of his vicarage, which he reluctantly resigned because 
he could not reconcile himself to the glaring inconsistencies of a liturgy to which, while 
he continued in the church, he found himself obliged to conform." — See a letter in the 
York Chronicle for February, 1774, signed " A Lay man," written by Mr. Metcalfe, notary 
public, of Richmond, who received Mr. Lindsey's resignation. In a letter to a friend 
at York, dated December 3, 1773, Mr. Lindsey, with his usual humi ity and kindness 
of heart, expresses himself thus : " Great are their lamentations at our leaving them, far 
more than we expected. But I attribute it chiefly to the great loss they will have in 
my wife, who will not soon be replaced." 

* William Chambers, D.D., rector of Achurch, near Oundle, in Northamptonshire, 
formerly of St. John's College, in the University of Cambridge, where Mr. Lindsey 
commenced a friendship with him which continued unabated through life. Dr. C. is 
described by his friend as having a mind above all sordid love of gain, who knew no other 
use of his fortune than to make others happy. He was remarkable for a constant cheer- 
fulness and innocent pleasantry which much enlivened conversation. His mind was 
always open to conviction ; he had a thirst after all useful knowledge, and spared no 
pains nor cost to attain it. Yet still he was most concerned about what related to God, 
how best to serve and make him known. He was deeply impressed with a sense of 
the truth and importance of the doctrine of the Divine Unity ; and was zealous to diffuse 
and impart his light and knowledge to others. He had long determined never to renew 
his subscription to the articles, and upon this ground had d< clined considerable prefer- 
ment in London, which had been offered him by a noble Earl, his relation. He did not, 



54 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



and Lindsey, do honour to Christianity and the present age. 
You will be surprised and grieved at the following particulars 

which Mr. of lately gave me in a letter. Archdeacon 

Blackburne thinks Mr. Lindsey wrong; that his resignation will 
not benefit the common cause ; that he should have made it 
sooner ; that the public has nothing to do with his reasons and 
apologies ; and says, that when he has quitted Catterick he and 
his wife will have no more than twenty pounds a-year, and the 
interest of a very small sum of money." 

This is a noble testimony from the best authority to the 
disinterestedness of Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey, and to the difficulties 
which they had to struggle with ; but for a good conscience they 
left all, and for the sake of Christ and his word they forsook 
father and mother. And happily the learned Archdeacon himself, 
who now so much disapproved their conduct, afterwards saw 
reason to retract his judgment, and, if he could not altogether 
approve, at least he ceased to condemn and learned to acquiesce. 

The venerable diocesan received the intelligence of Mr. Lind- 
sey's intended resignation with much regret, and endeavoured, 
by every argument and motive which zeal and friendship could 
suggest, to retain in the church so bright an ornament to the 
established priesthood. But his efforts, though well intended, 

hovvever, think it necessary to follow his venerable friend's example of resigning his 
living; but he altered the liturgy in accommodation to his own views of scriptural wor- 
ship, and he made it so perfectly Unitarian that Mr. Lindsey professes that the only time 
that he visited his friend after his own settlement in London, he attended public worship 
in his church with yrreat satisfaction. If these innovations had been officially noticed, 
Dr. Chambers was fully prepared to have given up his living rather than have violated 
his conscience. But such were the popularity of his character and the moderation of 
his worthy diocesan, Dr. Hinchcliffe, that he met with no molestation. This excellent 
man died of an apoplexy, September 4, 1777. He left a widow, who survived him up- 
wards of thirty years, and three children, two sons and a daughter, who inherit his 
virtues. Dr. Chambers had a near relation who was a merchant in London, who had 
a country house at Morden, in Surrey, where he lived with two unmarried sisters, ladies 
possessed of uncommon intellectual attainments, and whose characters were most ex- 
emplary. In this family Mr. and Mrs. Lindsej^ were accustomed to pass the greater 
part of the summer ; and to these ladies Mr. Lindsey dedicated his last work, " Con- 
versations upon the Divine Government," "-in gratitude," as he expresses it, " for 
unwearied office? of the most disinterested friendship for near thirty years to himself 
and Mrs. Lindsey, and in testimony £>r their enlightened zeal for the worship of the 
One true God, and a constant unostentatious readiness to do good." — See Mr. Lindsey'a 
Historical View, p. 486. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



55 



were unavailing. Mr. Lindsey's resolution had been formed upon 
deliberation too mature, and upon principles too sacred and too 
firmly rivetted, to be in the least degree shaken by the arguments 
or expostulations of the worthy prelate ; who frankly and hon- 
ourably acknowledged, when the deed of resignation was at last 
delivered in at the end of the month, that he had lost the most 
exemplary parochial minister in his diocese. # 

Thus did Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey, in obedience to the voice of 
enlightened conscience, resign their beloved residence at Catterick, 
with all its secular advantages and comforts, and with their little 
pittance of private property set out, in the bleak month of Decem- 
ber, in search of a resting-place where they might be able to 
maintain themselves by honourable industry, and might best pro- 
mote the great doctrine of the Divine Unity and the sole unri- 
valled supremacy of the Father. 

The world wa3 all before them, where to choose 
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide. 



CHAPTER III. 

FROM MR. LINDSEY'S RESIGNATION OF CATTERICK, TO THE 
OPENING OF THE CHAPEL IN ESSEX STREET. 

Indeed they soon found that the diminution of income was not 
the only difficulty with which they had to contend. In the days 
of their prosperity, and while they continued in connection with 
the established church, they had many warm friends who gladly 
received them at all times into their houses, and entertained them 
hospitably, and many of whom concurred with Mr. Lindsey in 
the application to parliament for relief from subscription. But 

* N.B. — For the interesting correspondence between Mr. Lindsey and his worthy 
diocesan, see Appendix, No. IV. 



56 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



now the case was quite altered. Former friends looked coldly 
upon them ; and some, of whom better things might have been 
expected, whose conduct was silently reproved by the magnani- 
mous example of Mr. Lindsey, were not sparing in loud and 
strong expressions of disapprobation of what they were pleased 
to term the precipitancy and imprudence of his conduct in aban- 
doning a situation of respectability and usefulness in the church ; 
and not a few were willing to leave them to their fate. Some, 
indeed, of Mrs. Lindsey's more opulent relations offered to pro- 
vide for her an asylum and competence, if she would abandon the 
society and the fortunes of her husband. It is needless to say 
that such a proposal was rejected with the indignation it de- 
served. 

From Catterick " the pilgrims " first went to Bedale, to Mrs. 
Harrison's, and the next day to Wakefield, accompanied by their 
accomplished friend who had drank deeply into the same spirit, 
Miss Harrison, now Mrs. Cappe, to pass a day or two in the 
society of the venerable Mr. Turner, to en joy the benefit of his 
sympathy, his counsels, his consolations, and his prayers. Of 
this delightful and instructive visit this excellent man gives the 
following account in a letter to an intimate friend : — 

" Since I wrote to you last I had the pleasure of Mr. and 
Mrs. Lindsey^s company one whole day and part of another. 
They both appeared very cheerful, considering that they were 
launching into untried scenes of an uncertain world, with hopes 
far from sanguine of the success of the scheme they had pro- 
posed, and consequently of obtaining the very means of sub- 
sistence. But confiding in the care of him who promised, c Who- 
sover shall confess me before men, him will I also confess/ &c, 
they both, and particularly Mrs. Lindsey, seemed to exult in 
having broke loose from ecclesiastical thraldom and gained 
mental liberty, and expressed much indignation against those 
who, having been educated in liberty of inquiry, and instructed 
in the value of it, have for the sordid considerations of this 
world submitted to shackles and to servitude." 

From their hospitable friends at Wakefield, where they took an 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



57 



affectionate leave of their amiable fellow-traveller, Mr. and Mrs. 
Lindsey proceeded to Aston, near York, the residence of the Rev. 
William Mason, the celebrated poet, the friend and biographer 
of Gray, who entertained them for a week at his house with great 
cordiality ; — though the conduct of Mr. Lindsey in resigning his 
living was much canvassed at York, where Mr. Mason was pre- 
centor of the cathedral, and was much condemned by some who 
were in repute for wisdom, who spoke of him as " a well-meaning- 
person, who would have done much less harm to society if he had 
never gone into the church at all." * 

To York Mr. Lindsey had sent his library, which he consigned 

* "Whatever might be the language of these wise judges'in their select parties con- 
cerning Mr. Lindsey, none of them were so indiscreet as to publish their censures of 
his character and conduct excepting one. Dr. "William Cooper, a dignitary of the cathe- 
dral at Yoik, and brother to Grey Cooper, Esq., M.P., who had also been a college 
friend of Mr. Lindsey. This Dr. Cooper, amongst others, made great interest to obtain 
the vicarage of Catterick upon Mr. Lindsey's resignation. But not being successful 
in his suit, the living being given to Dr. Chaytor, the brother-in-law of Mr. Robin- 
son, Lord North's private secretary, this worthy dignitary grew very angry that the 
living was resigned at all: and in the York Chronicle of January 28, 1774, under 
the signature of Erasmus, he published a most foolish and furious invective again>t Mr. 
Lindsey. It begins thus : — u Before you attempt to amend the liturgy, amend the 
articles, or amend anything else — you would do well, in the judgment of all rational 
beings, to amend your mode of writing, and. what is of more consequence, to amend 
your mode of thinking. But I cry your mercy. You cannot err, illuminated sir ; 
you have had a Divine impulse," &c. And again, — " If you had either the courage, 
or the goodness of heart, to let us know what your real sentiments are, 'tis more than 
probable that we should deservedly hold you in extreme contempt,'' &c. 

Such despicable and outrageous rant merited nothing but " extreme contempt." 
However it had its us*\ It brought forward a host of advocates in defence of the lair 
fame of the absent and calumniated confessor. In the foremost rank of these were 
the Reverend N. Cappe, of York, and the Reverend W. Turner, of Wakefield. To 
the credit of the order, and the still greater credit of Mr. Lindsey's unimpeachable 
and spotless character, not one of the clergy of the established church, how much so- 
ever they might be offended with Mr. Lindsey's doctrine or his secess on, stood for- 
ward to join in the attack, or to assist a distressed brother.. They prudently and 
silently left him to his fate. And the miserable assailant, having in vain attempted 
under different signatures to maintain his ground and to defend his charge, after being 
detected, defeated, and exposed in every shape that he assumed, was in the end com- 
pelled to retire from the field, humbled, confounded, and disgraced. Nor does it appear 
that this offici ous and malignant zeal for the church was at that time thought worthy 
of additional preferment. 

That everybody did not entertain the same opinion of Mr. Lindsey's conduct as 
Dr. Cooper and his associates at York, appears from some letters written to Mr. Lind- 
sey upon this interesting occasion, which are inserted in the Appendix ; one of which 
is from Mr. Grey, Cooper himself, the brother of Dr. C. and the friend of Lord North. 
Appendix, No. V. 



58 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



to the care of his friend Mr. Cappe, to be sold in order to raise 
a temporary supply for the support of himself and Mrs. Lindsey ; 
having reserved for himself a small number of books only for 
immediate use.* 

From Aston, Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey went to Swinderby, near 
Newark, where they made a transient visit to Mr., afterwards Dr., 
Disney, a clergyman of great learning and respectability, who was 
an active member of the Association at the Feathers Tavern. 
He shortly afterwards married Miss Blackburne, the daughter of 
thj learned Archdeacon of Cleveland, and half-sister to Mrs. 
Lindsey, who, much to her honour, expressed upon all occasions 
her high approbation of the step which Mr. Lindsey had taken ; 
and with the generosity and ardour which belonged to her 
character, she defended the principles and the conduct of her 
calumniated friends. Dr. Disney himself was at that time much 
dissatisfied with many things in the established liturgy ; but he 
contented himself with making the alterations which he thought 
necessary, leaving it to his ecclesiastical superiors to animadvert 
upon him as they might think fit. This conduct, however, did 
not prove ultimately satisfactory to his ingenuous mind, and a few 
years afterwards he bore his faithful testimony to Christian truth 
by following the shining example of Mr Lindsey, in resigning 
his preferments and prospects in the established church. Of the 
process of mind which led to this honourable conclusion, Dr. 
Disney has given an interesting narrative in a small tract which 
he published upon the occasion.f 

While Mr. Lindsey continued at Swinderby, he met with and 
transcribed the alterations proposed by Dr. Clarke in the esta- 
blished liturgy, which he at that time intended to print, but which 
he afterwards made the foundation of the improvements in the 
reformed liturgy which he introduced at Essex Street. 

From Swinderby the travellers directed their steps to A church, 
in Northamptonshire, the rectory and residence of their highly 

* This, no doubt, select and valuable collection at that time produced no more than 
the scanty pittance of £38. 

f This tract is in the catalogue of those which are circulated by the London Uni- 
tarian Society. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



59 



valued friend Dr. Chambers. In their road, they passed one day 
with Mr. Lindsey's sister, who was married to Mr. Harrison, an 
eminent grazier in Leicestershire. This venerable lady, three 
years older than her brother, and the exact model of him in piety 
and benevolence, is still living (a.d. 1810), meekly and w T ith 
humble resignation bending under the infirmities of ninety 
years. 

From Achurch, he writes to Dr. Jebb, in a letter dated January 
1, 1774, " I cannot but rejoice in your full approbation of my 
conduct hitherto, and future plan, and feel myself continually 
encouraged by it. I have from the first entertained a feeble 
imagination that perhaps I might have an honourable coadjutor 
in the friend I am writing to for an Unitarian chapel, if it should 
meet with the patronage which some promise it" He adds : 
" Our common friend and present host is most heartily with us 
in everything." The patronage to w r hich Mr. Lindsey alludes 
was probably that of which he received intelligence from Dr. 
Priestley, who was then in London with Lord Shelburne, and inde- 
fatigable in his exertions to serve his friend, and to promote his 
design of opening a chapel in London, and whose sanguine spirit 
led him, perhaps, to rely rather too much upon the promises of 
the great. In a letter to Mr. Turner he writes : " All my friends 
are very sanguine in favour of Mr. Lindsey's Unitarian chapel. 
Dr. Franklin says he knows several persons of distinction who 
will wish to encourage it, and several have proposed to subscribe 
to it. His Farewell Address I have just read, and was much 
affected with it : and so was Lord Shelburne, to whom I showed 
it. He is very desirous to see him as soon as he comes to Lon- 
don." This, no doubt, was encouraging. But it will appear in 
the sequel that the persons to whom Dr. Priestley alludes were 
not those to whose exertions and support Mr. Lindsey was most 
indebted for the execution of the scheme which he had so much 
at heart. 

At Achurch, Mr. Lindsey finished the revisal of the last sheet of 
his Apology, which was published the beginning of January, 
notwithstanding the remonstrances of Archdeacon Blackburne, 



60 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



who was apprehensive that it might be of disservice to the cause of 
the petitioning clergy. To this objection Mr. Lindsey paid no 
attention, justly remarking, that if the Apology was to produce 
any effect, its publication must be immediate, while the occasion of 
it was fresh in memory. " To suspend it now," says he, in a 
letter to a friend, " would be to sink it for ever." And as he 
conceived that such a work was necessary for his own vindication, 
and, what in his estimation was of far greater moment, that it 
would be of use for the promulgation of truth, he also hoped 
that it would contribute to promote, rather than obstruct, the 
object of the associated clergy. 

The design of this excellent treatise, as set forth in the preface, 
" was not barely to offer a vindication of the motives, conduct, and 
sentiments of a private person upon the subject of it, however 
important to him, but to promote that charity without which a 
faith that can remove mountains is nothing, and to excite some to 
piety, virtue, and integrity." 

It begins with some strictures upon the origin of the doctrine of 
the Trinity, and the opposition it met with to the time of the 
Reformation. It then treats of the state of the Unitarian doc- 
trine, in our own country more especially, from the era of the 
Reformation, with an account of those Christians who have 
professed it; and proceeds to prove that there is but One God, the 
Father, and that religious worship is to be offered to this One 
God, the Father, only. In the next chapter it states the causes 
of this unhappy defection among Christians from the simplicity 
of religious worship prescribed in the scriptures of the New 
Testament. It then shows how union in God's true worship is to 
be attained, and concludes with a modest and concise but affecting 
detail of the writer's particular case and difficulties. The work, 
the first in which the venerable author publicly adventured to 
defend his unpopular tenets, is drawn up with great care, and 
with much simplicity and candour. It breathes throughout an 
excellent spirit of piety and benevolence. It was revised with 
great attention by Mr. Turner; and in the judgment of every 
serious and impartial person, whether agreeing or disagreeing 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



61 



with the writer in his peculiar principles, it contains a complete and 
masterly vindication of his conduct in withdrawing from his 
situation in the established church. This Apology, in less than ten 
years, passed through four editions. 

On the 10th of January, 1774, Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey arrived 
at London, having spent a day or two in their w r ay at Paxton, with 
Mr. Lindsey's old college friend, Richard Reynolds, Esq., who, 
having imbibed the principles and the spirit of the virtuous 
protector of his youth, and his esteem and affection for his 
venerable friend having been if possible increased by his late noble 
act of disinterested virtue, received him and his fellow-traveller 
and fellow-sufferer upon the present occasion with redoubled 
satisfaction.* 

Upon their arrival at London they proceeded by particular 
invitation to Dr. Ramsden's, then in an inferior situation, after- 
wards the worthy Master of the Charter-house, a gentleman of 
great learning and probity, and of the most liberal principles ; 
who rose to the honourable office which he occupied by no 
other interest than that of personal merit, and wiio was not afraid 
of hazarding his reputation and his preferment by affording an 
asylum to his ex- beneficed friend. Here they were very hospitably 
entertained for ten days or a fortnight, till they had provided 
themselves with decent but humble lodgings, being two rooms on 
a ground-floor, in Featherstone Buildings, Holborn, where they 
now fixed their abode, and sold the plate which they had brought 
with them to London to purchase necessaries for present sub- 
sistence. 

But the scene soon began to brighten. Though few 7 com- 

* VThile he was at Paxton, Mr. Lindsey received intelligence of the sudden decease 
of Thomas Hollis, Esq., the celebrated and zealous friend to liberty, civil and religious. 
Of this gentleman Archdeacon Blackburne published an interesting Memoir in two 
volumes in quarto. He was the friend and confidential correspondent of Mr. Lindsey, 
under the assumed title of Pierce Delver. He was the ready and liberal patron of all 
who were in distress, and particularly of those who suffered in the cause of civil 
and religious liberty, or for the sake of truth and a good conscience. It cannot be 
doubted that, had his life been continued, be would have extended a liberable patron- 
age to Mr. Lindsey. Happily the venerable confessor did not stand in need of it. 
Some curious extracts from the correspondence of this virtuous and honourable man are 
cited in the notes to this work, and a specimen or two in the Appendix, No. VI. 



62 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



paratively of Mr. Lindsey' s former friends visited or noticed him 
in his voluntary retirement ; though some, whose principles nearly 
coincided with his own, but whose timidity and half-measures 
were condemned, not by his language, for he was the humblest 
and most candid of mankind, and very far indeed from making 
his own conduct a law to others, but by his bright and edifying 
example, not only gave no encouragement to the plan he had 
in contemplation, but openly and without reserve expressed 
their disapprobation of it ; he nevertheless met with great appro- 
bation and support from quarters where it was least expected. 
Many persons, both of the establishment and among the dissenters, 
perfect strangers to Mr. Lindsey, deeply impressed with veneration 
for his character, and admiration of the noble sacrifice which 
he had made for the sake of truth and conscience, visited him 
in his humble lodgings to testify their regard to him, and to 
offer their services in any way in which they might be of use. 
And when they heard of Mr. Lindsey's design of opening a 
chapel for the worship of the One God, the Father of Jesus Christ, 
many expressed their warm approbation and their active hearty 
concurrence in the execution of the design. Some promised to 
indemnify Mr. Lindsey in making the experiment. Others, 
and chiefly among the rational Dissenters, subscribed liberally 
towards the design. Dr. Priestley and Dr. Price were active 
and zealous friends. Samuel Shore, Esq., then of Norton Hall, 
now of Meersbrook, in Yorkshire, whose name ranks high among 
the advocates for civil and religious liberty, the patrons of 
truth and science, and the friends of pure and practical Christianity, 
called upon Mr. Lindsey with a present of a hundred pounds from 
a friend whose name was then concealed, but since known to have 
been Robert Newton, Esq., of Norton House,* whose delight was 

* Robert Newton, Esq., of Norton House. Of the character of this eminently 
benevolent man. the following interesting sketch is given by his intimate acquaintance, 
the Reverend W. Turner, of Wakefield, to Mr. Lindsey, in a letter dated June 14, 
1777:— 

" Robert Newton, Esq., is a near neighbour to Mr. Shore in the same village, 
aged about sixty-six or sixty-seven, and a bachelor of large fortune. I have known 
him since the year 1732, when, and for two or three years afterwards, we were 
fellow-pupils under Dr. Latham, at Findein, near Derby. His mother lost her husband 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



63 



to spend the income of a large estate in doing good in the 
most private manner possible, and from the shade of retirement to 
scatter blessings upon his fellow-creatures. To this princely 
donation of Mr. Newton, Mr. Shore generously added a very 
liberal present of his own ; and to the end of Mr. Lindsey's life 
he continued the warm personal friend, and the firm and liberal 
supporter of him and his cause. In this way a sum was very soon 
subscribed adequate to every purpose which Mr. Lindsey had 
in view. And by the exertions of the late Mr. Joseph Johnson, 
of St. PauFs Churchyard, a room was soon found and taken in 
Essex House, Essex Street, which having before been used as 
an auction-room might, at a moderate expense be fitted up as 

when she was pregnant of this son, and gave so much way to grief for that event 
as was supposed to have an ill effect on the constitution of her child. He has always 
had very weak nerves and uneven spirits, but generally a prevailing hypochondria. For 
many years past he has been telling his friends that he should soon give them the slip : 
but in the mean time he has looked well and grown bulky. When any extraordinary 
case, particularly for the service of his friends, called for it, he could exert as much 
vigour, activity, and resolution as any man. To an exertion of this kind the two 

Miss owed their fortunes. They had an unhappy brother, of either defective 

understanding or capricious or bad temper, or both, who being past his majority, and 
a student at Edinburgh, died there. Immediately an episcopal clergyman, in whose 

house he had boarded, pretended that Mr. had married his daughter, and made 

a will by which he had bequeathed all his fortune to her absolutely. When the family 
was informed of this, Mr. Newton, having furnished himself with proper power, 
and being also a guardian and trustee, set off express, met the corpse on the road, which 
they were bringing to be deposited in the family burying-place, arrested and secured it ; 
went forward to Edinburgh, made diligent inquiry, discovered many suspicious circum- 
stances, and partly by remonstrances, and partly by threats of a legal discussion at the 
expense of his own whole fortune, prevailed upon the Scotch pretenders, in considera- 
tion of a few ready thousands, to relinquish their whole claim. He then returned with 
great satisfaction and honour, and ordered the corpse to proceed to the family burial-place. 
For such a service, all the connections of the family owe and pay him great esteem and 
gratitude. Mr. S. says, Nature formed him for a soldier ; and that as a commander, and 
especially as a partisan, he would certainly have distinguished himself. When younger, 
he made little of riding from his own house to Scarborough in one day ; supping, 
and perhaps dancing there till midnight with a party of his friends, and would 
then remount and return next day. Like sudden excursions and returns, to and from 
London, Bath, Bristol, and even abroad, were common with him, — and all the while he 
was dying. From all the above circumstances you will easily conclude he must 
have had some humours, and even whims ; but they have always been very innocent, and 
only laughable. He has always been very steady in his friendships, of which Mr. H., a 
Dissenting minister at Mansfield, who for many years has been his most familiar friend 
and companion, both when at home and in many of his excursions, has had, I doubt not, 
ample experience. — So much for your generous back-friend Mr. Newton, who, as 
a friend of mine said of another person, delights to do such extraordinary good deeds and 
nobody must know ! I need not caution you not to draw the curtain behind which he 
chooses to conceal himself." 



64 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



a temporary chapel. In a letter to Mr. Turner, dated February 9, 
1 774, Mr. Lindsey thus expresses himself : — 

"Dr. Priestley is indefatigable in his endeavours; and to him, 
Dr. Price, and other friends of theirs, it will be owing; that 
the matter is brought to bear at last, as they kindly offer bv 
subscription of their friends to indemnify me on the first outset. 
If it be of God, as I trust it is, it will succeed. But should it fail, 
some good 1 still persuade myself will result, and others will easier 
take it up and proceed better. I desire the help of your prayers 
for illumination and direction now and always." In another 
letter, dated March 17, to the same friend, in reference to his 
Apology, he writes, " Your earnest prayers are desired for the 
writer, that he may persevere to the end and be found faithful 
unto death : and with him one other also to be joined, whose 
trial has been and is the same or greater." And in the same 
letter, after acknowledging Mr. Turner's kind and successful 
recommendation of his undertaking to some generous friends 
at Wakefield and elsewhere, he adds, " I have reason to say, 
and have said it to more persons than one of late, that I have had 
the gospel promise of the hundred-fold in the number of friends 
increased in this world ; and should an evil day of persecution 
come, they would be a great consolation in it. This, indeed, 
is what some forebode, especially when our new form of worship 
is set up." In his next letter, dated April 5, after acknowledging 
the liberality of Mr. Milnes, and relating the munificence of 
the gentlemen of Norton, he writes, " We compute that two 
hundred pounds will nearly fit up and pay the rent of our chapel 
for two years. Behold then this sum nearly supplied by a few 
generous hands. I am thankful. But I am sorry to say they are 
all, one excepted, not of the established church." 

In this letter Mr. Lindsey notices to his friend a very honourable 
invitation which he had lately received to settle with a Dissenting 
congregation at Norwich, which, however, it did not comport 
with his present plans and purposes to accept. 

As soon as Mr. Lindsey was settled, and especially after he 
had met with such great encouragement to pursue his primary 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LIXDSEY. 



65 



purpose, he began in good earnest to draw up his Reformed 
Liturgy, very much upon the plan of Dr. Clarke's, but with 
considerable variations and improvements adapted to his own more 
correct and extended views of Christian doctrine, and of the 
mode of conducting Christian worship. Many of his timid and 
lukewarm brethren earnestly recommended to him to adhere without 
any variation to Dr. Clarke's copy, that every innovation might 
be introduced under the sanction of the venerable name of that 
learned and eminent theologian. But Mr. Lindsey had advanced 
too far to be deterred by the fear of calumny, or to adopt 
error because it was supported by a great name. Indeed, though 
he was far from wishing to introduce any unnecessary change 
in the public service, he justly thought that it would be very 
inconsistent in him, who had resigned a lucrative situation in the 
established church principally because of his objections to the 
public liturgy, now that he was at full liberty to choose for him- 
self, to compromise his principles by adopting a form which 
was open to many objections solely because it was the work of Dr. 
Samuel Clarke. Rejecting therefore every proposal of this nature, 
and judiciously resolving upon carrying Dr. Clarke's owu principle 
of reform to what appeared to him to be its proper extent, he 
requested the assistance of his friend Mr. Turner in this 
important undertaking; but he chiefly relied upon the able 
co-operation and prudent advice of his friends Dr. J ebb, Mr. 
Tyrwhit, and a few other learned and liberal members of the 
University of Cambridge; and with their aid, in conjunction with 
his own indefatigable exertions, the Reformed Liturgy was com- 
piled and printed ready for use by the middle of April, 1774. 

AVhen it came to be generally known that it was Mr. Lindsev's 
intention to open a chapel upon principles strictly Unitarian, with 
a reformed liturgy, great offence was taken by many, and means 
used, but without effect to, intimidate this magnanimous confessor 
from the execution of his purpose. It was even intimated to him 
that the civil power would interpose to frustrate his design. But 
none of these things moved him; nor could any worldly con- 
sideration induce him to abandon what he regarded as the line of 

r 



66 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



duty. <( Our church-superiors," says he in a letter to Mr. Tur- 
ner, dated February 9, " are said to glory in laying everything to 
sleep. I doubt not but it will appear that their policy is as much 
mistaken as their Christian principle is certainly defective in this 
respect. Our design of a reformed liturgy is much spoken 
against by them, and highly condemned as forward, schismatical, 
and I know not what, and intimations given as if such an attempt 
would not be suffered. But these things deter not one person, 
and I hope they will not others." Of the methods which were 
used to intimidate and divert him from his purpose, Mr. Lindsey 
mentions an example in a letter to Dr. Jebb, dated February 28 : 
" If it were not making an obscure man of too much importance, 
I might tell you that two of the Commons' House have desired 
to see me, and to divert me from a design which will turn that 
general compassion now shown towards me into open hostility 
and hatred. I wish no other situation but that in which I may 
be made instrumental in removing the shocking snares that are in 
the way of conscientious men, and the impure idolatries of 
Christian worship." 

That many of the friends of the established hierarchy, and 
that some persons who were of great consideration in the Govern- 
ment, entertained no small anxiety with respect to the conse- 
quences of Mr. Lindsey's public secession from the church, there 
is great reason to believe. The spirit of inquiry and of reforma- 
tion was then abroad, and it could not be foreseen how far the 
generous contagion would spread. And who could say that 
another glorious Bartholomew-day might not be added to the 
calendar of English martyrology, and that hundreds might not 
be stimulated by the noble example of this truly primitive con- 
fessor to resign their preferment, like their predecessors in the 
preceding century, for the sake of a good conscience ! The time 
however was not yet come. And there is no reason to believe 
that there ever existed in the minds of men in power a design or 
a wish to molest Mr. Lindsey. They had too much understand- 
ing, and too accurate a knowledge of human nature and of his- 
tory, not to be aware that persecution, if it does not extend to 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LTNDSEY. 



67 



extermination, promotes the interest of the persecuted sect. And 
in fact Lord North, who was then at the head of the Administra- 
tion, and the rigour of whose high-church principles was counter- 
balanced by the suavity of his temper, avowed his wish without 
hesitation that every one should be permitted to go to heaven in 
his own way, provided that the public peace was not disturbed. 
And though, upon the opening of the chapel in Essex Street, an 
emissary of Government was known for some time to attend the 
public service regularly, in order to communicate information to 
persons in power; yet when it was discovered that nothing was 
either taught or done contrary to the allegiance due to the State, 
and likewise that few of the dissatisfied clergy were disposed to 
follow Mr. Lindsey's example, and that the obnoxious principles 
were not likely to gain over many proselytes, Ministers of State 
wisely ceased to trouble themselves about Essex chapel, and 
suffered the new sect quietly to im merge and to find its level in 
the vast mass of religious dissentients. Nor indeed, if the 
governing party had been so unwise as to have urged a prosecu- 
tion, can it be with reason supposed that a Sovereign who began 
his reign with the memorable declaration that he would " main- 
tain the toleration inviolable ; " and who in the course of a long, 
an agitated, and an eventful administration has never in a single 
instance violated his promise, would for a moment have lent his 
countenance to so unjust and cruel a procedure. 

But though the tolerant spirit of the times, together with the 
wisdom and lenity of the superior and more enlightened function- 
aries of the State, imposed a restraint upon the spirit of persecu- 
tion, there were not wanting some busy ignorant people in the 
inferior departments of magistracy, who, st dressed in a little brief 
authority," were anxious to show their zeal for the church, their 
loyalty to the crown, and their own official consequence, by crush- 
ing Mr. Lindsey's design at the moment of its execution, and by 
attempting with equal malignity and folly to nullify the provisions 
of an Act of Parliament by the decrees of a petty sessions. The 
Westminster Justices hesitated to grant a license for opening the 
chapel. 

f 2 



68 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



The place was fitted up, the Liturgy was printed, and all was 
in readiness for performing divine service early in the month of 
April; but as the Justices did not meet till Easter Tuesday, April 
5th, the place could not be legally registered till that day, and it 
was necessary to defer opening the chapel till the Sunday follow- 
ing. On the day of meeting, application was made in due form 
to the Justices assembled at Hick's Hall to register the chapel as 
a place of Dissenting worship. But these gentlemen returned for 
answer, that they were holding a sessions for the county of Mid- 
dlesex, and that, the chapel being situated in Westminster, the 
application for a license must be made to the Westminster magis- 
trates, who would not sit till Monday. This was a great dis- 
appointment; and many of Mr. Lindsey's friends urged him to 
open the chapel without waiting for the license. But his great 
legal adviser, John Lee, Esq., warmly remonstrated against it, as 
giving his opponents an undue advantage, and earnestly recom- 
mended to him to keep as closely as possible within the limits of 
the law. It was therefore agreed to defer performing divine 
service in the chapel till the Sunday following. 

On the day appointed, application was made to the Bench of 
Justices holding their session for Westminster, at Hick's Hall, for 
a license to open the chapel in Essex Street as a place of worship. 
What passed upon that occasion was so remarkable and instruc- 
tive, that I shall set it down as it is detailed in a letter from 
Mr. Lindsey to Dr. Jebb, dated the very day that the license was 
promised. 

" I have the pleasure of assuring you that our difficulties are 
over, and we certainly begin (may it be with the divine blessing 
upon us!) on Sunday next. But we have not succeeded without 
striking with the great hammer, if I may so speak. For this 
morning Mr. Johnson, the bookseller, went, according as he was 
appointed, to Hick's Hall, and was there at the opening of the 
court. He got the clerk to move for him that he was waiting to 
have our entry recorded, as the court had given him reason to 
expect. But Lord Ward, who was that day in the chair, said it 
was a matter of some deliberation, and must be set over till the 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



69 



next meeting, i.e. Saturday. It appeared from hence that they 
would put us off civilly, and leave us in the lurch at last. I met 
Johnson coming out of the court, and took him with me to 
Mr. Lee, who was engaged at Guildhall, where I found him plead- 
ing before Chief Justice De Grey. I got to him, however, and 
told him our situation. He said it did not look well; but that 
the Chief Justice's Court would soon be up, and he would go im- 
mediately to Hick's Hall and see what was to be done. He came 
like a lion soon; ' desired to see the entry that had been given 
into the court to license a place of worship for a society of Dis- 
senters; was sorry such unusual obstructions had been put to so 
legal a demand; that he understood it was said by some that the 
Justices had a discretionary power in such cases; that they were 
mistaken; that, on the contrary, they were merely official; and if 
they refused, a mandamus from the King's Bench would compel 
them ; that he hoped the great Magna Charta of the religious 
liberty of Englishmen was not now going to be attacked. 5 Upon 
this, one or two of the Justices said it was their opinion, and always 
had been, as Mr. Lee's, that they had no discretionary powers. 
On something being said concerning the doctrine to be preached, 
and the officiating minister, that some inquiry was to be made 
about them, he told them that ' those were subsequent facts 
and matters of inquiry; that the house of worship was the object 
before them, and they were bound to make record of it as desired/ 
After this, on a pause being made, he desired to know ' whether 
the court would give him the trouble to come again the next day 
and move the matter and argue it before them, or w r ould now 
grant it.' The latter was conceded, and our certificate, it was said, 
should be ready next court day. We begin, however, without it 
on the authority of our counsel.* 

Such was the triumph of firmness and good sense over the 
narrow spirit of bigotry and persecution. And much to the 
credit of the improved liberality of the times, and of the Govern- 

* The fact, however, was, that the certificate was never granted, nor was the chapel 
registered or licensed as a place of worship till after the defect had been noticed by Pr. 
Horsley in his Letters to Dr. Priestley; after which the neglect was immediately and 
without any difficulty rectified. 



70 



MEMOJKS OF THE LATE 



ment, this was the only obstruction which Mr. Lindsey ever met 
with from the civil power during the whole course of his ministry. 
All difficulties were now surmounted. The vessel w r as afloat, and 
commenced its voyage under the happiest auspices and with the 
most propitious gales. 



CHAPTER IV. 



FROM THE FIRST OPENING OF THE CHAPEL TO THE PURCHASE 
OF THE PREMISES AND THE ERECTION OF THE PRESENT BUILD- 
ING IN ESSEX STREET. 

On Sunday, April 17, 1774, the chapel was opened, and divine 
service was performed before an audience as numerous as could in 
reason be expected, and as respectable for rank and character as 
were ever collected together upon a similar occasion. In a letter 
to his friend Dr. Jebb, dated the next day, # Mr. Lindsey writes : 

* It will be interesting to compare Mr. Lindsey's account of this memorable event 
with that of his warm friend and supporter the late John Lee, Esq., in a letter of the 
same date to Mr. Cappe at York : 

" After a little difficulty in getting his chapel registered at the Quarter Sessions, 
which I had the good luck to remove, he entered upon his ministry yesterday. His 
chapel is a large upper room in Essex House, Essex Street, in a very central part of 
London, and in my neighbourhood. The place is convenient for the purpose of contain- 
ing about 300 persons; a greater number would crowd it. He was well attended, con- 
sidering that no public notice was given of the intended service. There were about ten 
coaches at the door; which I was glad of, because it gave a degree of respectableness to 
the congregation in the eyes of the people living thereabouts. Of those that I knew 
and remember were Lord Despenser, Dr. Franklin, Dr. Priestley, Dr. Calder, Mr. 
Shore jun., Mrs. Shore, Mrs. Eobert Milnes, Miss Milnes, and Miss Shore ; Dr. Hinck- 
ley, Dr. Chamber, Dr. Primatt and two or three other clergymen, with a few barris- 
ters whom you do not know. All the rest were to all appearance persons of condition, 
and in the whole were I think near two hundred, and mostly of the establishment. We 
were all pleased with the service and with his manner of performing it. His sermon, which 
I thought very good, will be printed, and you will of course see it. I begin to con- 
ceive hopes that his scheme will be patronized, so far at least as to produce him a com- 
fortable subsistence. Indeed, I hope it will leach those who ought not to have needed 
such teachings, that Reformation is both a safe and an easy work." 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



71 



"You will be pleased to hear that everything passed very well 
yesterday ; a larger and much more respectable audience than I 
could have expected, who behaved with great decency, and in 
general appeared, and many of them expressed themselves, to be 
much satisfied with the whole of the service. Some disturbance 
was apprehended, and forboded to me by great names, — but not 
the least movement of the kind. The only fault found with it 
was that it was too small. From the impressions that seemed to 
be made, and the general seriousness and satisfaction, I am per- 
suaded that this attempt will, through the divine blessing, be of 
singular usefulness. The contrast between ours and the church 
service strikes every one. Forgive me for saying, that I should 
have blushed to have appeared in a white garment. No one 
seemed in the least to want it. I am happy not to be hampered 
with anything, — but entirely easy and satisfied with the whole of 
the service ; a satisfaction never before known. I must again say 
it, and bless God for it, that we were enabled to begin well. And 
we only desire to go on as through his blessing we have begun. 
I must mention one circumstance of yesterday to you and Mrs. J., 
and confidential friends : that Lord Le Despenser was at our 
chapel yesterday: whether he will come again we cannot say, but 
he has subscribed handsomely towards indemnifying us for the 
expenses of the chapel, &c."* 

As Mr. Lindsey's professed design was to gather a congregation 
from the members of the established church, it was his desire and 
endeavour that the form of worship should recede no further from 
that of the establishment than was necessary to edification, and 

* This nobleman, as might naturally be expected, soon discontinued his attendance. 
But it was cons ; derate and liberal in him to contribute to the expenses of the chapel at 
a time when ass ; 8tance was particularly needed. Other noblemen of still higher rank 
attended much longer and professed great approbation, but contributed nothing. Not 
that the late Duke of Richmond, or the preseut Duke of Norfolk, would have hesitated 
to have given whatever was right and liberal, if the idea had occurred, or if application 
had been made ' o ihem. But to attend a place of worship supported by voluntary con- 
tribution, was to them a novelty ; and delicacy, perhaps misplaced, prevented the 
friends of the new sanctuary from suggesting a hint to the illustrious visitors. Such 
hints have not always been needful : and liberality unsolicited has been sometimes as 
ample as it was unexpected. 



72 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



to reconcile it to the pure scriptural doctrine concerning the su- 
premacy and the sole worship of the Father. The clerical dress 
was retained, with the exception of the surplice only. By the 
recommendation of his friend Mr. Turner, a prayer was intro- 
duced before and after the sermon.* And upon this memorable 
occasion Mr. Lindsey composed an appropriate discourse, which 
was immediately published, together with the prayers. The 
Liturgy also was published at the same time. Both these works, 
as well as the Apology, had a rapid and extensive sale.f 

The subject of the discourse was Ephes. iv. 3 : " Endeavouring 
to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace ; 93 and the 
preacher shows that by unity of spirit is intended " the kind 
affection, good order, and attention to mutual edification, which 
ought to subsist among those who profess the doctrine of Christ. 
The way in which this is to be preserved is ' in the bond of peace/ 
To illustrate which principle it is observed, that it is a maxim of 
undoubted truth, that in their religious capacity, mankind are 
subject only to the authority of God and of their own consciences, 
— that it has nevertheless been the doctrine of too many in all 
periods of the church, that peace and unity are not to be attained 
unless you bring all Christians to be of one opinion in religion, — 
that when other arguments have failed, the Scripture has been 
pressed into the hard service of enslaving mankind to one system 
of religious opinions, though such system has been oft in direct 
opposition to it, — that God never designed that Christians should 
be all of one sentiment, bat that there should be different sects 
of Christians and different churches, — that while a friendly, 

* In a letter to Mr. Turner, dated April 5, Mr. Lindsey says : "I am highly obliged 
to you for your hint about prayers before and after sermon. The latter I have practised 
for some years, and shall attend to the other." In a letter, dated June 13, he writes: 
"I am happy that I adopted the idea which you suggested, of introducing a short 
prayer of my own before and after sermon. And I am more happy to find that it is 
not only approved by, but seems to have a good effect in sole.nnizing the minds of the 
hearers." 

+ Of the sermon five hundred copies were disposed of in four days, and of the 
Liturgy seven hundred copies were sold in six weeks. The Apology passed through 
four editions. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LIXDSEY. 



73 



benevolent temper is cultivated towards each other, the different 
sects and churches among Christians, far from being a hurt or 
discredit to religion, are an honour, and of singular service to it : 
nor can it with truth be said, that different sects of religion in a 
country have a tendency to disturb the public peace and quiet. 
And though it must not be dissembled that the disputes and 
contentions of Christians with each other have caused great 
miseries and disturbance in the world, yet the blame lies not on 
the mild and gentle doctrine of the gospel, but on the civil 
powers who have given life and importance to these disputes by 
interfering with them. But that wise experience has now taught 
them a better lesson. - " The sermon concludes with stating that 
"the peculiar reason of forming a separate congregation distinct 
from the national church is, that we may be at liberty to worship 
God alone, after the command and example of our Saviour Christ. 
So that if any ask what we are, or for what purpose we are joined 
together in a Christian society, our answer is with the apostle, 
' We are a people that worship God in the spirit, and make our 
boast in Christ Jesus/ Phil. iii. 3." 

To this discourse is annexed a summary account of the 
Reformed Liturgy used in the chapel in Essex Street : the prin- 
cipal object of which is to vindicate the deviations of this liturgy 
from that of Dr. Samuel Clarke, to which many respectable friends 
of the author wished him to have strictly confined himself, but 
which advice Mr. Lindsey, with his usual correctness of judgment 
and firmness of spirit, declined to follow. 

Upon this occasion Mr. Lindsey, by the advice of Dr. Jebb 
and his Cambridge friends, but as he soon discovered without 
due consideration of the subject, pledged himself in pretty strong 
language not to introduce disputed points into his public dis- 
courses. " Far will it be from my purpose/' says he, " ever to 
treat of controversial matters from this place." But if popular 
and pernicious errors are not to be combated, and if the plain, 
simple doctrine of Christianity is not to be taught from the pulpit, 
it is difficult to say how public attention is to be excited : how the 
mass of hearers are to be instructed, and how truth is to make its 



74 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



way. In fact it appears that where public teachers have confined 
themselves to mere moral instruction, and have either not touched 
at all upon Christian doctrine, or have veiled their real opinions 
under ambiguous language, the consequence has often been that 
the teacher by reading and reflection has become enlightened 
while the hearer has been left in darkness ; the preacher has 
reformed his speculative creed while the hearers have retained all 
the erroneous and unscriptural notions which their pastor has 
long ago renounced. And as a natural consequence, when a 
vacancy has occurred, a successor has not unfrequently been 
appointed whose system has been directly opposite to that of the 
person who immediately preceded him.* Those who hold senti- 

* Dr. Doddridge's congregation refused to invite Dr. Ashworth, whom he recom- 
mended as his successor both in the pulpit and in the academy, and whose sentiments 
were in perfect unison with his own, and chose a gentleman, a very worthy person, but 
whose orthodoxy was of a much higher tone than that of his predecessor. A late minister, 
well remembered by many, made his boast, that though he had officiated twenty years 
at the same chapel, he defied any of his hearers to know what he believed concerning 
the person of Christ. And it is a fact of sufficient notoriety, that a flourishing congrega- 
tion in the metropolis, in appointing a colleague to their respected pastor, who had 
officiated among them with great acceptance for more than thirty years, fixed their 
choice upon a person so opposite in sentiment that he would not even hear his colleague 
preach, or ever join in communion with him. Could such a case have happened had 
the hearers been properly instructed in their religious principles, and rationally grounded 
in their Christian faith ] It is absurd to say that if these people had been better in- 
structed they would not have been equally serious. How does it appear that they 
would have been less virtuous if they had been more consistent ? 

The writer of- this note can bear testimony, from his own experience, to the very 
opposite effects of different modes of public instruction. While he resided in the 
country as minister of a congregation and divinity tutor in the academy upon Mr. 
Coward's foundation, he gradually changed his theological views from an affinity to 
those of Dr. Doddridge, to perfect Unitarianism, and a belief in the proper humanity of 
Jesus Christ. But not being at that time so clearly convinced as he was afterwards of 
the duty of an explicit avowal of important truth, he, like many others, satisfied him- 
self with using language which, though not contradictory to, was certainly not ex- 
planatory of his new opinions. The consequence was, that when he thought it his 
duty to resign the connexion, a successor was chosen, a worthy young man, one of his 
own pupils, but one who in Trinitarian orthodoxy far exceeded all his predecessors from 
the first foundation of the chapel. Not so when he resigned his place at Hackney to 
succeed at Essex Street. That intelligent society, trained up under the candid and 
liberal instructions of Dr. Price and the enlightened zeal of Dr. Priestley, to which his 
own humble efforts for ten years in the same good cause had not been wanting, when 
a vacancy was declared, acted in a manner worthy of themselves and of their teachers. 
To them it was an object of the first consideration to look out for a minister who should 
be disposed and qualified to support the doctrines in which they had been instructed, 
and which from conviction they embraced and cherished. Happily divine Providence 
directed them to a choice which fulfilled their utmost wish* s and hopes. And the very 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINBSEY. 



75 



ments to which they give the pompons name of orthodox or 
evangelical, never decline to avow their systems in the most manly 
and explicit manner. And they do right while they believe those 
sentiments to be true and important. How unbecoming, then, is 
it for those who hold a better and a purer faith to shrink from 
the public profession and defence of it, and to leave the adversary 
master of the field ! It is a silly objection which is urged by 
some weak, or timid, or indolent, I will not say interested persons, 
that speculative preaching, as they call it, tends to diminish a 
serious and pious disposition, and promote a sectarian spirit. As 
to the latter part of the objection, let them read Sir George 
SavnVs remark upon the subject of sectaries : and with respect to 
the former, I confess I could never see how the increase of know- 
ledge had a tendency to produce deterioration of practice; and he 
w r ould be a very injudicious teacher w T ho did not combine practical 
exhortation with doctrinal instruction. 

"Yesterday," says Mr. Lindsey, in a letter to Dr. Jebb, dated 
May 23, " I ventured to deviate from the idea which you and my 
friends with you seemed to entertain as right, of preaching merely 
practical discourses, and enlarged with much earnestness on John 
xvii. 3. I find it was acceptable to many, and that it was even 
looked for, that I should sometimes treat upon the great object 
and principle on w r hich our new church is formed, in order to 
confirm some that are already come out, and awaken others to 
come out of Babylon. But I expect the greatest effects by and 
by through the nation, from the thunder of yours, of Mr. ^s, 

prosperous state of the congregation, which required a larger chapel to accommodate the 
increasing number of worshippers, d' monstrates the energy and, if I may so express it, 
the omnipotence of plain, simple, uncorrupted truth, when taught with openness, with 
firmness, with ability, and zeal. May tnis glorious cause continue to prosper among the 
ri^ng generation there and elsewhere, under the same or a similar able, active, and 
eloquent ministry, when those who are now passed the burden and the heat of the day, 
and upon whom the shadows of the evening are fast lengthening themselves out, shall 
be at rest with their fathers in the land of silence and oblivion ! And may the conduct 
of all who profess to hold the pure and uncorrupted doctrine of Christ, at all times, 
silently, but powerfully and irresistibly, repel the unfounded and ungenercus charge, so 
triumphantly advanced I y ignorance or malignity, that Unitarian principles and a zeal 
for truth are inconsistent with seriousness of spirit, with fervour of devotion, and with 
holiness of life ! 



76 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



and Mr. — s apologies, for you can never go out in mute 

silence and without bearing your testimonies against her witch- 
craft and idolatries." 

Among the earliest hearers of Mr. Lindsey was Mrs. Rayner, 
a near relation of the Duchess of Northumberland and of Lord 
Gwydir. This lady was married to a gentleman of large fortune, 
and was attracted by curiosity and the invitation of a friend to 
hear the new doctrine at Essex Street, on the day when the chapel 
was first opened. Through the whole service her eyes were fixed, 
and her attention riveted upon the preacher ; and when it was 
over, she and Mr. Rayner introduced themselves to Mr. and Mrs. 
Lindsey, and from that time to the end of life she became a 
constant hearer at the chapel, and a firm and generous friend to 
Mr. Lindsey, and to the cause which he supported and for which 
he suffered. Mrs. Rayner was a lady of open and unaffected 
manners, of superior intellect, and of a well-informed mind. She 
possessed unbounded generosity of spirit, and, especially after the 
death of Mr. Rayner, denied herself almost what was necessary to 
support her rank and station in life, that she might spend her 
money in acts of great but not indiscriminate munificence. She 
became a liberal and powerful patroness of the cause of truth. 
And to this lady the Christian world is indebted for the publica- 
tion of one of the most learned and most useful theological works 
which the age has produced : Dr. Priestley's History of Early 
Opinions concerning Christ : a work which demonstrates in a 
manner which never has been and never can be confuted, that 
from the earliest age of the Christian religion down to the fourth 
century, and to the time of Athanasius himself, the great body of 
unlearned Christians were strictly Unitarians, and consequently 
that this was the original doctrine concerning the person of Christ. 
This most valuable treatise was a work of great labour and ex- 
pense, the demand for which would by no means have defrayed 
the charge of the publication. But Mrs. Rayner, with exemplary 
generosity, supplied the money, and to her the work is with great 
propriety dedicated. Many other acts of this lady's princely 
munificence might be mentioned which almost exceed belief in a 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



77 



selfish and irreligious age. But she sought not worldly applause ; 
and she is now gone where her works and virtues will follow her, 
to receive their appropriate and everlasting reward.* 

The cause now began to flourish beyond all expectation. The 
chapel was always crowded with attentive hearers, so that many 
who came late were obliged to go away for want of room. Con- 
siderable numbers of very respectable names were continually 
given in as subscribers to the expense of the chapel and to the 
support of the minister. Among the rest were the late distin- 
guished patriot Sir George Savile, member for Yorkshire ; Mr. 
Serjeant Adair, with his father and mother ; the late learned and 
eminent scripture-critic, Mr. Dodson, the translator of the book 
of Isaiah ; and the present Sir Thomas Bernard, the benevolent 
treasurer of the Foundling Hospital. Nor must I omit to mention 
the name of my respected friend Robert Martin Leake, Esq., the 
present worthy Master of the Report Office in the Court of 
Chancery, who, being then a young man, and having by reading 
and reflection emancipated himself from the Trinitarian and high- 
church prejudices in which he had been educated in his father's 
house, the late Garter King-at-Arms, was one of the first who 
called upon Mr. Lindsey at his lodgings in Featherstone Buildings, 
and encouraged him to persist in his design of opening a chapel 
for Unitarian worship ; and though not then in affluent circum- 
stances, offered a liberal contribution to the object, and has ever 
since remained a firm and enlightened advocate of the cause : he 
is now senior trustee of the chapel, and one of the few surviving 
original founders and supporters of the place. 

But nothing of this kind gave Mr. Lindsey more pleasure than 

* One instance out of many, and that by no means the greatest, of this benevolent 
lady's extraordinary munificence is related by Dr. Priestley in his Memoirs, p. 77, 
London edition. The Doctor mentions that upon his separation from Lord Shelburne 
he was barely able to support the expense of removal. He adds, " But my situation 
being intimated to Mrs. Rayner, besides smaller sums with which she occasionally as- 
sisted me, she gave me a hundred guineas to defray the expenses of my removal ; and 
deposited with Mrs. Lindsey, which she soon after gave up to me, four hundred guineas, 
and to this day has never failed giving me every year marks of her friendship. Hers 
is, indeed. I seriouslv think, one of the first Christian characters I was ever acquainted 
with, having a cultivated, comprehensive mind, equal to any subject of theology or 
metaphysics, intrepid in the cause of truth, and most rationally pious." 



78 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



a letter which he received in the beginning of Jane from the late 
Sir Barnard Turner, who afterwards distinguished himself so much 
in quelling the riots in London in 1780, at the head of the Lon- 
don Association. Of this letter the following is an extract com- 
municated by Mr. Lindsey to his friend Mr. Turner, to whom he 
knew that it w r ould give the same satisfaction which it gave to 
himself. 

"I have long been .held from associating with any sect of 
Christians with that sincerity which my conscience and gratitude 
to the Supreme Being tell me are needful in religion, from a 
thorough conviction that the adoration of any but the one true 
God was highly sinful. It is therefore with the utmost earnest- 
ness that I beg to be considered as one of your congregation, and 
also that you will do me the favour of accepting my annual sub- 
scription of five guineas towards the welfare of the society, and the 
making you some amends for the loss and expense to which your 
love of truth will make you liable. I shall, besides, be always 
ready with cheerfulness to bear a reasonable share of any further 
expense that the future exigencies of the society may make neces- 
sary/' 

In reference to this application from Sir Barnard Turner, Mr. 
Lindsey expresses himself thus in a letter to Dr. Jebb : " I 
have found this institution a means of drawing out, and I hope 
will be of encouraging and perfecting, many excellent characters. 
Your heart would rejoice in reading a letter I received this very 
week from one of these desiring to become a member of our 
church. We are still crowded on Sundays." 

The satisfaction and comfort which this excellent man experi- 
enced upon his deliverance from the galling yoke of an establish- 
ment which he disapproved, in the perfect liberty which he enjoyed 
of conducting the services of religion in the manner which best 
approved itself to his understanding and to his heart, and in the 
success of a scheme for the accomplishment of which he had 
made such strenuous exertions and such great and costly sacrifices, 
a success so far beyond his most sanguine expectations, may be 
more easily conceived than described. He often gives vent to the 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



79 



pious and grateful emotions of his heart in his communications to 
his confidential friends. 

In a letter to Dr. J ebb, dated March 31 , a week before he 
expected to open the chapel, he writes : " No one has more fears 
or diffidences, and I think justly, of what I do» I sometimes 
wonder how I came into the service in which I am embarked. 
But I have met with such friends and encouragement that I go on 
cheerfully and without fear." 

In another letter to the same friend, dated July 24, three 
months after the grand experiment had been tried, and the success 
of it was complete, he thus expresses himself : " I have not known 
what entire quiet of mind and perfect peace with God was for 
many many years till now ; and I would not exchange it for a 
thousand worlds. Encouraged also as I am that good, extensive 
good, to glorious Truth does arise and will arise from it. I must 
have died much in the dark had I been called away before this. 
How thankful ought I to be for that good Providence which has 
conducted and preserved me ! You will be glad to hear that last 
Sunday we had a more respectable audience at the chapel than 
I ever saw, except the first day. And to-day quite full." So 
mightily did the word of God, and the cause of pure and uncor- 
rupted Christianity grow and prevail under the ministration of 
this venerable confessor, and so abundantly did his heart overflow 
with consolation and delight in the success of his benevolent and 
pious exertions. 

It is not however to be concluded, that all was now sunshine 
with Mr. Lindsey, and that the season of clouds and darkness 
was completely over. The tide of prejudice at that time set so 
strongly against the Unitarian doctrine, that there was some rea- 
son to apprehend — at least, many of Mr. Lindsey's friends did 
apprehend — that some popular disturbance might take place at the 
opening of a chapel professedly upon Unitarian principles, and 
that some personal insult might be offered to the minister, or 
some interruption attempted in the service. This, however, gave 
Mr. Lindsey little concern. He did not indeed court, but neither 
did he shun, persecution in the performance of duty. But in truth, 



80 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



though he had received many anonymous libels in the form of 
letters, he had no considerable apprehension of personal violence. 
Happily, under the mild administration of the House of Bruns- 
wick, religious toleration was the wise and liberal principle of 
government, and lawless outrage was kept under severe restraint. 

It gave Mr. Lindsey more concern that his motives should be 
mistaken by some of his associated brethren, who regarded the 
decisive step which he had taken as injurious to the object of 
their petition, a reformation in the subscription and in the service 
of the established church. Mr. Lindsey, though he much 
regretted that offence was taken where none had been intended, 
consoled himself with the conviction which he felt that his brethren 
had formed an erroneous judgment in the case, and that his seces- 
sion from the establishment, so far from being of disservice, would 
eventually be very beneficial to the cause of the petitioning clergy, 
by exciting attention to it, and by interesting many in their favour. 
" You and Jebb/ ? says an eminent leader among the associated 
clergy, in a letter to Mr. Lindsey, " have obliged the Balguys and 
Randolphs by your integrity, but none else, though more may 
commend. It has been the utter ruin of the plan of the peti- 
tioners/'' Mr. Lindsey thought far otherwise. " A few/ 5 says 
he to his friend Dr. Jebb, "of our petitioning friends, and but a 
few, will have it that my retreat has hurt our cause. But I am 
emboldened to say, from fact and knowledge in this great city and 
a wide range elsewhere, that it has and does serve it greatly — nay, 
has been a great means of keeping it from dying entirely." And 
upon another occasion, alluding to the same misconception of some 
of his petitioning friends, he says, "These things must not move 
us. I hope to be enabled to go on in a way which promises to 
be of some present use, nay, actually is so already, in removing 
prejudices and enlarging the minds of some, and may be of un- 
known benefit." 

But nothing appears to have hurt Mr. Lindsey's mind so much 
as the malignant reports which were industriously circulated by 
some, that he had been influenced throughout by mercenary views, 
that he was now in a better situation than that which he had left, 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



81 



and that he had a promise of this before he resigned his benefice. 
Mr. Lindsey could not but feel indignant at the imputation of 
motives which his soul abhorred, of which his conscience entirely 
acquitted him, and to which the whole tenor of his life was a pal- 
pable contradiction. Upon this subject he expresses himself with 
a very becoming and a truly christian spirit in a letter to his kind 
friend at Wakefield, dated June 13, 1774. 

" We have about thirty names upon the list of our society as 
members, who have signified their intentions, and some of them 
what they shall contribute. This gentleman's (Sir Barnard Turner's) 
is much the largest. I mention this not as if I had any doubt of a 
sufficient provision for myself and the society, but that you may 
know in a general way the w r hole of our state : because I find that 
it is said 1 have already an establishment of four hundred pounds 
a year, and that I knew what a good exchange I should make 
when I left Catterick. Such reports we must expect. It is here 
spread about, and believed by many, that my wife's uncle, at our 
quitting Catterick, settled .^00 pounds a year on me, though he has 
never seen us, nor admitted us to write a letter to him from that 
time to this. I believe that with Mr. Shore's and his friend's bene- 
faction, and those of other friends, I have received upwards of four 
hundred pounds. But upwards of two hundred out of this was 
given purely to indemnify me for the expenses of fitting up the 
chapel; its rent, fifty pounds a year : clerk's w T ages, &c. I am a 
little sorry I have blotted so much paper and taken up so much 
of your time on such a subject, but I was desirous you should be 
acquainted with it. And as I have hitherto done, I desire to keep 
my hands and heart clear of all mercenary views, though I cannot 
bind others from imputing them to me." 

Mr. Lindsey alludes feelingly to the same reports in his corres- 
pondence with Dr. Jebb.* How little foundation there w r as for 

*" Nothing," says Mr. Lindsey in a letter to Dr. J ebb, dated May 22nd, "is yet 
settled with regard to those who are or will be members of our church, and their con- 
tributions, though several of them have spoken to me about it. But I am in no hurry 
on that account. And I wish ever to keep at a distance from the suspicion of attention 
to money; though such suspicions have been, are, and will be imputed by those who 
judge of others by themselves.'' In another letter, dated June 7th, he writes: "You 

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82 MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 

them is manifest from the following extract of a letter from a 
friend, who about that time visited them at their lodgings : " I 
had the satisfaction of finding oar worthy friends in pretty- 
good health and spirit: but by no means in the affluent 
situation in which common fame in Yorkshire had placed them. 
The lodgings they are in at present are close, inconvenient, and 
expensive : nor have they yet been able to meet with any thing 
more suitable to them. But the cause in which Mr. Lindsey is 
engaged has power to soften every difficulty, and he has need of 
such support." 

It became now 7 incumbent upon Mr. Lindsey to defend his 
principles from the press as well as from the pulpit. The Apology 
was not permitted to pass without animadversion and attempts at 
refutation. The first who entered the lists was Mr. Burgh of 
York, a member of the Irish parliament, a young man of some 
talents, of estimable character, and of liberal political principles, 
but little versed in theological controversy. He published so 
early as the month of June, 1774, a work entitled A Scriptural 
Confutation of the Arguments against the One Godhead of the 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, produced by the Rev. Mr. Lindsey 
in his late Apology. This treatise as an argumentative work was 
trifling in the extreme, and must immediately have passed into 
the oblivion to which it has long been consigned, had it not been 
supported and puffed off by some persons of note, who no doubt 
thought it was calculated to make an impression upon the numer- 
ous class of readers to whom sounds are a ready substitute for 
sense.* Of this work Mr. Lindsey thought it sufficient to take 

shall know every thing when I see you, how we go on. In the mean time, though I 
have the highest cause to be thankful to God's good providence, there is no foundation 
for reports which some put about with no good design." 

* Of Mr. Burgh's argument, the following are curious specimens. Because we read in 
Scripture of the grace of God, and also of th.z grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; because 
Paul calls himself a servant of God, and also of Jesus Christ ; and because the gospel 
is called the gospel of God, and also the gospel of Christ ; and " that which is God's is 
not another's," as the author sagaciously remarks, " therefore Christ is God, one with 
the Father." Sequel, Pref. p. x. xi. To attempt a refutation of such arguments would 
be a prostitution of reason. Mr. Lindsey, in a letter to Mr. Turner, dated June 13, 
1774, mentions that the pamphlet, then anonymous, had been sent him by the author 
ten days before. " I really took the book," says he, " to be the work of some methodist 
at first perusing it, and nothing in it solid or that might require an answer. But I was 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



83 



a slight notice in the preface to the Sequel to his Apology, In 
the same preface he also replied, as far as it was judged needful, 
to two other pamphlets which had been published against his 
Apology ; one of which, by Mr. Bingham of Dorsetshire, was 
entitled A Vindication of the Doctrine and Liturgy of the 
Church of England, occasioned by the Apology of Theophilus 
Lindsey, M.A. : the other by Dr. Randolph, Lady Margaret's 
Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford. These treatises 
were written with more knowledge of the subject than Mr. Burgh's, 
but their arguments contained nothing of novelty which required 
paiticular attention. # The passages of scripture which were 
alleged by these writers in favour of Trinitarian doctrine and 
worship, and which had been adverted to in the Apology, were 
explained in the Sequel. 

This able and learned work appeared early in the year 1776. 
It is much more copious than was originally intended, and con- 
tains, as the author expresses it, "a full inquiry into the questions 
concerning the nature and person of Christ, and what is the 

much surprised the other d:iy in conversing with Mr. Mason, to find that he had been 
privy to the publication, hid revised some of the proof sheets, and approved the doc- 
trine in the highest degr-e. Nay, he told me that Dr. Hurd had just then told hitn 
that the writer expressed his own sentiments upon the Trinity. But I could not help 
telling Air. Mason that he and his friend were easily pleased. That he boasted too 
much of the author's freedom from prejudice as being a young man who had never read 
any controversy on the Trinity : as if we received no prejudices but from reading. 
Mr. Mason added, ' the book must make a great noise,' which I would easily believe if 
they cried it up." In a letter to Dr. Jebb, dated June 17th, he writes : " The zeal to 
propagate the Lo.ymaii s (Mr. Burgh's) pamphlet is most extraordinary. A friend of 
mine on Sunday, dining with a very high personage, found the book brought to the Lady 
of the house by a noble Lord of the company, a friend of Mr. Mason. With regard 
to the two original commenders of it, I declare I am am ized they can find no better 
salvo for their consciences in the use of our Trinitarian forms. And it has much 
lessened them both in my estimation. If upon perusal of it you should put a few- 
thoughts together, and be disposed to let them be printed, I should be very glad : 
not for the importance of the piece itself, but for the vogue which it is to have given 
to it." 

* Save that Mr. Bingham discovered that the word Father, when used by our blessed 
Saviour in prayer, signifies the first person of the godhead, but when used by us it sig- 
nifies the same first person, together with two other equal persons, the Son and the 
Holy Ghost. And that the learned Margaret Professor found out that every thing 
which the candid Whitby had to say in his " Disquisitiones modestae," in reply to 
Bishop Bull, had been "fully answered by Dr. Waterland," though he acknowledges 
that he had never been able " to obtain a sight of the book." See preface to the Seq. 
p. xvi. xxi. 

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MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



worship due to him also, " a further illustration of some things 
advanced in the Apology to which objection had been made/' In 
his preface Mr. Lindsey acknowledges his obligations to Dr. Jebb, 
who had lately resigned his situation and prospects in the church, for 
his trouble and assistance in revising the greater part of the work. 

In this volume, the most elaborate of all Mr. Lindsey's publi- 
cations, the learned author in his first chapter states the design 
of his work, and relates the sufferings and the testimony of Mr. 
Elwall, who was tried for heresy and blasphemy before Judge 
Denton at the Stafford Assizes, in the reign of George the First ; 
and gives an account of Hopton Haynes, a zealous and learned 
Unitarian, the friend of Sir Isaac Newton, with copious extracts 
from Mr. Haynes's excellent treatise on the attributes of God, 
which was then very scarce, but which has since been published 
and very widely circulated by the Unitarian Society. Ch. ii., the 
author treats at large of the Arian and Socinian worship of Christ, 
and shows that it has no foundation in the New Testament. 
Ch. iii., he argues, that the Logos or word is not a divine person 
or intelligent agent, but that it is the wisdom and power of the 
Father by which the world was made, and by which Christ and 
his apostles were inspired and were enabled to perform their 
mighty works. Ch. iv., this doctrine, concerning the divine 
Logos, word, or wisdom, is further illustrated by comparing it 
with various passages in the New Testament, in which Christ is 
represented as being guided and assisted by the spirit of God, 
which the learned writer assumes to be the same as the Lo^os. 
Ch. v., he examines distinctly and critically those passages in the 
New Testament which have been supposed to favour the pre- 
existence of Christ, and particularly those in St. John's gospel. 
Ch. vi., he argues very forcibly and successfully against the 
strange and unscriptural doctrine of two Jehovahs, the one 
supreme, the other subordinate : the latter a great angel who 
personated the character and assumed the name of the Supreme, 
who was the medium of all the divine dispensations to mankind, 
and the immediate object of religious worship to the Jewish 
church : which angel animated the body of Christ. This hypo- 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



85 



thesis, which had always been maintained by learned Arians, 
ancient and modern, had lately been very plausibly stated, and 
very ably defended, in a learned work by the Reverend Henry 
Taylor, the Rector of Crawley, under the assumed character of 
Benjamin Ben Mordecai, a converted Jew. To this treatise Mr. 
Lindsey makes a calm, detailed, and satisfactory reply. Ch. vii., 
the work goes on further to plead from the language of Moses 
and the Prophets, and from the explicit declarations of the 
Apostles and Evangelists and even of Christ himself, that he was 
really a man, and that the truth of this doctrine is not impeached 
by the great and lasting errors of Christians concerning it. 
Ch. viii., the author comments upon the testimony of the 
Apostolical Fathers concerning the nature and person of Christ, 
and, lastly, he concludes with a critical examination of those 
passages in St. Paul's epistles, in which creation is supposed to be 
ascribed to Christ, and clearly shows that creation is the proper 
work of God himself without any instrument or deputy ; that 
this is the uniform doctrine of the scriptures, and that those 
expressions of Paul which are thought by many to teach a 
different doctrine, are to be understood of the new creation, and 
cf the renovation of the moral world by the gospel of Christ. 

In his interpretation of some of the controverted texts all may 
not be entirely agreed, who nevertheless coincide with the learned 
and worthy author in his views of the person of Christ. But as 
long as that important controversy shall continue, Mr. Lindsey's 
Sequel must always be regarded as a standard work, and as a 
bright example of free and fearless discussion, blending itself with 
that amiable spirit of Christianity which softens the asperities of 
theological controversy, and which allows to all the equal right of 
private judgment. 

From the commencement of his arduous undertaking, and 
especially from the time w T hen success appeared probable, Mr. 
Lindsey, modestly diffident of his own pow r ers and qualifications 
both of body and mind, was anxiously solicitous to secure the 
aid of an able coadjutor. The first person upon whom he cast 



86 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



his eye was Dr. Jebb, to whom he suggested a hint of the busi- 
ness before he left Yorkshire. But afterwards, when the prospect 
brightened at Essex Street, and Mr. Lindsey was assured that his 
friend intended speedily to execute his long-formed determination 
of resigning his preferment and his prospects in the church, he 
made the proposal to him in more direct terms.* " I must not 
forget to add," so he writes in a letter dated October 20, 1775, 
" as it need be said to yourself alone, that with Mr. Tayleur's, 
Sir George SavhVs and Mr. Smith's subscriptions, our amount, 
all things paid, is one hundred pounds,*)* which I should be most 
glad to share annually, and more that I am sure would accrue 
with such a coadjutor. I mentioned this formerly, but your plan 
did not lead to the pastoral line in London ; but I thought I 
would name it again/' Dr. Jebb, however, rather chose the pro- 
fession of medicine ; and though, after he had retired from the 
church he was regular in his attendance at the chapel, and re- 
tained all his zeal and his activity in the cause of Christian truth, 
he declined to officiate as a Nonconformist minister. 

Mr. Lindsey was also disappointed in his application to another 
most truly excellent and learned person, eminent for his piety, 
benevolence, and zeal for truth, whose assistance would have been 
most acceptable to Mr. Lindsey and to his friends, but who 

* In the meantime Mr. Lindsey. probably in consequence of Dr. Jebb's delay to 
secede from the church, appears to have made an overture to Dr. Robertson of Wolver- 
hampton. This is hinted at in a letter to Dr. Jebb, written in May, 1775. 

+ This was but a very moderate income, even when the necessaries of life were at 
less than half the price which they bear at present, and far short of what Mr. L : ndsey 
relinquished at Catterick. His willingness to divide this pittance with his colleague is 
an ample confutation, if such were needful, of the calumnies which represented him as 
acting from mercenary motives. But the ten' r of his whole life demonstrated that his 
soul disdained the imputation. It is but justice to the liberality of Mr. Lindsey 's 
friends and supporters to add, that his income was rapidly increased, and that he was 
soon placed in a situation, not only to live with comfort, but in which both he and 
Mrs. Lindsey could gratify to a considerable extent the favourite wish of their hearts — 
to do good to others. The third name in Mr. L ; ndsey's list, Mr. Smith, is probably 
that of Lord Carrington, who continued his liberal but uno-tentntious patronage of 
Mr. Lindsey as long as Mr. Lindsey lived. And it may now, March, 1812, be added 
that his lordship's bounty was continued to the widow of the deceased confessor, by 
contributing largely to an annuity of £100, which was settled upon her for life, to 
enable that excellent lady to continue her extensive and judicious charities, in which 
his lordship was joined by a few other friends of Mr. Lindsey, whose names were never 
made known to Mrs L. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



87 



declined the office from principles most honourable to his feel- 
ings, and no doubt perfectly satisfactory to his own ingenuous 
and enlightened mind. Thus this venerable confessor was left to 
sustain the conflict, and to fight the battle alone. But his God 
was with him : a good conscience and a good cause bore him up 
and carried him through, and "his strength was equal to his 
day/' For ten years he continued the sole pastor of a numerous 
and flourishing congregation, all the members of which held their 
revered instructor in the highest estimation, and many of them 
gladdened his heart by their visible improvement in Christian 
knowledge and virtuous practice. 



CHAPTER V. 

FROM THE ERECTION OF THE BUILDING IN ESSEX STREET TO 
THE APPOINTMENT OF DR. DISNEY TO BE THE COLLEAGUE OF 
MR. LINDSEY, 1783. 

As the congregation increased, and the interest appeared likely 
to be permanent, it became necessary to provide a suitable place 
of worship ; and after much inquiry and deliberation, it was 
agreed to purchase the premises in Essex Street, which, by the 
liberal contributions of the friends of the cause,* Mr. Lindsey 

* In the foremost rank of these were the generous inhabitants of Norton Hall and 
Norton House, whose great and unexpected liberality to Mr. Lindsey upon his first 
coming to town has been before mentioned. Upon the present occasion, having com- 
municated the intelligence to a friend, to whose kind offices he thought himself much 
indebted for " the friendly disposition of these worthy persons," he adds, " I cannot 
describe the feelings I had on such an unexpected instance of generous and public 
spirit, especially when contrasted with some from whom much might have betn ex- 
pected, but who are to poor to do anything." In a letter to the same friend, dated 
May 14, 1778, after having mentioned Mrs. Lindsey's frequent indisp sitions, he adds, 
" but nothing hinders her indefatigable attention to what she takes in hand. It was 
owing to her that our new chapel was ready so soon. And she is now no less busily 
eng; ged in the habitation underneath, which we are to inhabit, and which requires 
much more to be done at it than we expected ; in short, a new house and chapel might 



88 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



was enabled to accomplish, and to repair and fit them up in their 
present commodious form for the purpose of a chapel, and for a 
residence for himself and Mrs. Lindsey. This great work was 
completed early in the spring of 1778, and the new chapel was 
opened March 29. Upon this occasion Mr. Lindsey delivered an 
excellent discourse from John iv. 23, 24, upon the unity of God 
and the spirituality of Divine worship, which, with the prayers 
before and after the sermon, were immediately published. 

Among the most zealous advocates of the Divine unity, and 
for the erection of a place of worship upon the avowed principle 
that the Father alone is to be worshipped as God, the late William 
Tayleur, Esq., of Shrewsbury, holds a distinguished place. This 
gentleman, who by a careful study of the scriptures had become 
a decided Unitarian forty years before, who had in vain attempted 
to form a society for Unitarian worship in his own vicinage, and 
who began to despair that he should ever live to see the accom- 
plishment of his favourite object, concurred most cordially in Mr. 
Lindsey's design ; and though from the remoteness of his resi- 
dence it was impossible that he should derive any personal bene- 
fit, he was nevertheless extremely solicitous that the affairs of the 
chapel in Essex Street should be placed upon a respectable and 
permanent foundation. He hoped that the honourable example 
would be followed by many others both in the metropolis and in 
the country, and that houses for the worship of the one God 
would be multiplied through the nation. To this end he con- 
tributed very liberally upon the present occasion ; and a few years 
afterwards he had the satisfaction to see his pious and benevolent 
expectation in some measure realized. A congregation of Uni- 
tarian dissenters at Shrewsbury were induced by his exhortations 
and encouragement to adopt a reformed liturgy ; and the last 
years of the life of this exemplary Christian were consoled and 
delighted by the quiet possession of a privilege, the hope of 
which he had hardly permitted himself to indulge, that of join- 
ing at stated seasons in the public worship of the one God, the 

have been built for much less expense. But it was convenient to have one place to 
assemble in while the other was building : and we had no idea that the house was in 
such a ruinous way as we have found it." 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



89 



Father of all, in the way that his conscience dictated as most 
rational, scriptural, and edifying.* 

Of this excellent person Mr. Lindsey gives the following 
interesting account in a letter to a friend, dated September 1, 
1783, immediately after his return from making him a visit : — 

* " It is now forty years," writes this excellent man in a letter to Mr. Lindsey. dated 
May, 1 777, " since I was clearly convinced that the Father alone ought to be worshipped 
as the only true God. Had any one then told me that I should live to see a society of 
Christians openly professing that doctrine, meeting together in a chapel of their own, 
and using a form of prayer avowedly drawn up to perpetuate the honour due to the 
only true God, I should have treated such a person as a well-meaning visionary. Much 
yet remains to be done, but what may not be expected from so prosperous a begin- 
ning V 1 In another letter, dated November 13, after having made over £500 in the 
three per cent. S r ock towards building the chapel, Mr. Tayleur adds, " I have many 
opportunities of declaring that I cannot giv^ my assent to the Athanasian forms of 
worship, or join in the use of them ; but still it is very disagreeable to appear to do 
this by frequenting the service of the church. I have long sought a remedy ; gainst 
this inconvenience, but hitherto I can find none ; for there is no dissenting congrega- 
tion here, or here-about, who profess to worship the Father as the only true God, or 
who would not be offended if any of their members should make such a declaration. 
Could such a congregation be found, I should think it my duty to join them, though I 
think it too much, at least for an old man, to hear, judge, and pray at the same 
time : and therefore wish for a form of prayer on the Unitarian plan. I have 
endeavoured to prevail on some few persons, laymen, who think as I do, to meet 
one Sunday at least in a month, to read together your lit irgy, and to declare openly, 
without blaming those who are otherwise minded, our reasons for doing this : but 
hitherto I have met with no success, nor have I much prospect of it till the laity take 
the matter more to heart than they at present do." 

What an exemplary spirit of piety, zeal, and moderation ! It is easy to conceive 
how delighted this worthy man must have been when his own plan, which he had so 
long laboured in vain to accomplish, was at last, when he was ready to abandon it in 
despair, unexpectedly carried into effect. Thus we learn not to desist from generous 
efforts to promote truth and virtue, though they may for a time be ineffectual. This 
excellent man modestly assigns his reasons for preferring a liturgy to free prayer. Let 
those b'ush who judge harshly of their brethren for differing from them in forms of 
praver or modes of worship. The prayer of the upright will be accepted, whether it 
be offered in language which occurs upon the occasion, or in a written or a printed 
form. 

Mr. Tayleur wa^ possessed of a large estate, and his generosity was unbounded. He 
settled a hai dsome annuity upon the chapel at Shrewsbury for the support of Uni- 
tarian worship. And Dr. Priestley acknowledges himself indebted to the liberality of 
this gentleman for the most material assistance in th< publication of many of his theo- 
logical works, without which he would not have been able to publish them at all. — 
L>r. Priestley's Memoirs, p. 104, English edition. 

This excellent Christian died May t), 1796, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. An 
eloquent and instructive discourse was delivered upon the occasion at the High S'reet 
Meeting, in Shrewsbury, by T his accomplished friend Theophilus Houlbrooke, LL.B„ 
F.R.S. Ed., originally a clergyman in the established church, but who became one 
of the honourable band of confessors in tru* glorious cause of the Divine unity. This 
sermon was published. It is much to be wished thit the learned author had fulfilled 
his original intention of prefacing his discourse with an account of Mr Tayleur, as the 
public has in vain waited for the memoir expected from another quarter. 



90 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



" We took a long flight, you will call it, thence {i.e. from 
Richmond, in Yorkshire) to Shrewsbury ; but were well repaid 
when we arrived there by the sight and society of one of the most 
valuable of mankind, Mr. Tayleur, in whose house we lodged. 
He was educated at Westminster, and went off Captain of the 
school to Christ Church, Oxford, where he resided as student or 
fellow seven years, a hard and real student all the while; thence 
to the Temple for nearly as long a space. But an elder brother 
then dying, and the family estate coming to him, he married the 
late Sir Rowland Hill's sister and settled at Shrewsbury. An 
excellent classic scholar both in Geeek and Latin, which he re-* 
tains, and not unskilled in the Hebrew language. A very good 
mathematician also. His time and talents have been always much 
turned, but entirely of late years, to the scriptures, of which he 
is a great master. A strict Unitarian, but of deep piety at the 
same time ; without which, opinions are of little value. If you 
have not heard of it you will be glad to know, that some years 
past, when he could no longer attend the Trinitarian worship of 
the Church of England, and could not through long association 
join with edification in extemporary prayer, he had service for 
many Sundays in his own house in which he officiated, at which 
some gentlemen of the Church of England attended, and some 
of Mr. Fownes's congregation who preferred a form of prayer ; 
and this continued till Mr. Fownes yielded to the requests of 
many of his congregation to admit the form they now use, with 
some additions made by him. One cannot but wish that other 
gentlemen of the Church of England would follow his example. 
Were there to be many instances in different places, I apprehend 
it would be one of the most likely means to put the churchmen 
on reducing their liturgy nearer the scripture model of worship." 

Another very eminent person, who was indeed from the begin- 
ning a zealous encourager and supporter of Mr. Lindsey's design, 
was Richard Kirwan, Esq., F.R.S., the late venerable President 
of the Royal Society in Ireland ; a gentleman of the first eminence 
in Europe in chemical and geological science, and of whom Dr. 
Priestley was wont to say, that he was the best general scholar he 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



91 



ever knew, and particularly able in theology. This distinguished 
philosopher, being from principle and a profound study of the 
sacred scriptures zealously attached to the great doctrine of the 
Divine unity, and that the Father alone is the proper object of 
religious worship, constantly attended Divine service in Mr. Lind- 
sey's chapel during his residence in London. 

From the summer of the year 1778, when he took possession 
of the premises in Essex Street, Mr. Lindsey may be considered 
as fully settled. All difficulties were completely removed; every 
thing went on comparatively in a smooth, easy, and equable 
tenour : and the succeeding years of life were not more diversified 
than those of other studious persons and ministers of religion 
commonly are. Mr. Lindsey was in general blessed with a good 
share of health, and a natural equal flow of good spirits. His 
circumstances, if not affluent, were at least easy and comfortable. 
His friends were numerous, and he was in the habit of daily 
familiar and delightful intercourse with persons of the highest 
respectability for rank, talent, character, and information. His 
public services were attended by as large a congregation as the 
chapel would admit, all of whom revered and loved their venerable 
pastor, and listened to his words as though he were an apostle 
of Christ. He was engaged in an office, to himself the most 
delightful, and to others the most instructive and edifying ; at 
full liberty to search the scriptures without any control, and 
to speak his sentiments without the least reserve to a people 
candid, affectionate, and warmly prepossessed in favour of what- 
ever he addressed to them, as the result of his own pious and 
diligent researches, and of what he seriously and conscientiously 
believed to be the genuine doctrine of Christ. Happy in a 
consort who felt a lively sympathy in all his sorrows and his 
joys, whose principles were in perfect unison with his own, and 
whose prudence, activity, and energy of mind relieved him from 
every secular care, and left him at perfect liberty to devote all 
the powers of his mind to the great object in which his whole 
soul was engaged. If ever any person resigned a situation of 
ease and affluenee from principles the most pure and disinterested^ 



92 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



with expectations the most humble, and with prospects the most 
gloomy and uninviting, it was Mr. Lindsey. And if any person 
ever experienced the accomplishment of the evangelical promise, 
that he who should voluntarily forsake all for Christ and for his 
words, should even in the present life receive remuneration a 
hundred fold, Mr. Lindsey was the man. Of this mark of 
divine goodness this truly excellent man, who from his cradle had 
been taught to see the hand of God in every thing, was most 
deeply sensible; and without any affectation of humility, or parade 
of piety, he was ever most ready upon every proper occasion, and 
specially in correspondence with his intimate friends, to express 
the gratitude and admiration which he felt for blessings so far 
beyond his expectations and deserts. 

In the autumn of the year 1778, Mr. Lindsey was seized with 
a violent fever, which for some days excited the greatest alarm 
amongst his friends, lest they should lose their revered and 
beloved instructor, while, for a time, 

the important die 
Of life and death spun doubtful, ere it fell 
And turned up, life. 

The pious and becoming posture of his mind upon this trying 
occasion he thus describes in a letter to his friend Mr. Turner, 
dated October 4, 1778. 

"I never remember to have had an illness, and I have had 
many, for which I could not see reason to thank the hand that 
sent it. I have reason to say so of this last on many accounts ; 
but I would add to you on this : because it has given me such con- 
vincing proofs not only of the tenderness of my old friends, but 
of the kindness and attachment of all the congregation to their 
minister ; and of others not so nearly connected. I desire the 
help of your prayers that I may live, while I do live, if it so 
please God, to be -useful in promoting the truth of the gospel." 
After expressing his great concern at Mrs. Turner's illness, and 
his joy at her recovery, he adds, " I do not know whether the 
tender husband or wife that is a by-stander, does not endure 
more than the patient on the sick bed. My wife I am persuaded 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



93 



slept as little as I did for the three weeks nearly that I was con- 
fined to a bed; and daring all that space, when my head was so 
apprehensive and sore with continual watchfulness > that the least 
noise was a torture to me, she admitted no one into the room but 
the physicians. During my illness happily she kept very well; 
since she has been much otherwise, which is not to be wondered 
at, considering what she underwent, but I bless God she is now 
tolerably recovered/' 

May the writer of this memoir be permitted to meution, that 
soon after this, in January, 1779, being at that time the minister 
of a congregation in the country, and upon a visit in London, he 
was taken by a friend to attend the evening service in Mr. 
Lindsey' s chapel ? The subject of the discourse was a good 
conscience; and the seriousness and gravity with which it was 
treated confirmed him in the opinion which he had already formed 
from the perusal of some of Dr. Priestley's writings, that it was 
possible for a Socinian to be a good man. At the same time he 
felt a very sincere concern, that persons so highly respectable as 
Mr. Lindsey and Dr. Priestley, should entertain opinions so 
grossly erroneous as he then conceived, and so disparaging to the 
doctrines of the gospel. This he ignorantly imputed to the little 
attention which they paid to the subject of theology. Little did 
he then suspect that further and more diligent and impartial 
inquiry would induce him to embrace a system from which his 
mind at that time shrunk with horror. And had it been foretold 
to him that in the course of years, and the revolution of events, 
he should himself become the disciple, the friend, the successor, 
and the biographer of the person who was then speaking; that 
it should fall to his lot from that very pulpit to pronounce before 
a crowded assembly of weeping mourners the funeral oration of 
Theophilus Lindsey, he would have regarded it as an event almost 
without the wide circle of possibilities, and as incredible as the 
incidents of an Arabian tale. So strange are the vicissitudes of 
human life, and so little does man know of what lies before him, 
or of the path in which the mysterious wisdom of divine providence 
may conduct him. 



91 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



At the time when Mr. Lindsey came to settle in London the 
American contest was carrying on with the greatest animosity. 
It was an awful crisis for the country. The nation was torn 
asunder by the conflicting parties, and it was on all sides portended 
that the separation of the colonies must be inevitably followed by 
national bankruptcy, if not with the loss of national independence. 
Not to be deeply interested in a state of affairs so gloomy and 
alarming, would have indicated a deficiency in some of the most 
generous and honourable feelings of human nature. Mr. Lindsey 
felt deeply for the miseries of his country, and for the errors or 
misconduct of the government. And though, standing at 4he 
head of a religious party which was exposed to popular prejudice, 
and amenable to the laws of the land; he wisely abstained from 
rendering himself personally obnoxious by taking a public part in 
political meetings; and though, being chiefly intent upon the 
great object which he had in view, to restore the simplicity of 
Christian truth, he seldom or never made the pulpit the vehicle of 
party politics, he nevertheless thought and felt as a man and a 
Briton, and hesitated not to express his opinions upon all proper 
occasions with freedom and warmth. The part he took in the 
political contests may easily be inferred from his intimacy with 
Dr. Priestley, Dr. Jebb, Dr. Price, Dr. Franklin, Mr. John Lee, 
and many other eminent writers and partisans of the times : and 
Mr. Lindsey was one of those patriotic alarmists who augured 
much worse of the issue of the contest than the event justified, 
and who perhaps attributed worse motives to the authors of these 
unfortunate measures than in fact they deserved. " For my own 
part," says he, in a letter to Dr. Jebb, dated June, 1 774, " I must 
own I have been so much dejected at the present measures and 
condition of our country, that it has broken my rest and peace 
both night and day. Instead of teachers of knowledge, wisdom, 
virtue, and true religion, which we might and ought to have been, 
to be a nation the most debauched in principle and practice, 
exerting its powers to extinguish light and liberty wherever its 
vast power reaches, is a melancholy reverse of what we expected." 

Happily the American war terminated in the independence of 



REVEREND 



THEOPHILUS 



LIXDSEY. 



95 



the United States : and this event, contrary to the predictions 
of boding politicians, so far from proving the ruin of the two 
countries, has been found by experience to be the greatest blessing 
which could have happened to both. America for upwards of 
twenty years has enjoyed peace and liberty, both civil and religious, 
to an extent unknown in the world before. And Britain, exonerated 
from the expense and trouble of governing a distant empire, and 
forming a liberal commercial connection with her emancipated 
colonies, far from sinking into bankruptcy and servitude, soon 
emerged from her difficulties and rose to a state of opulence and 
prosperity unparalleled in the annals of history. Thus she stood 
the admiration and envy of the world, till the portentous Revolu- 
tion of France involved her, as some think unwisely, and as others 
believe inevitably, in a contest infinitely more hazardous, and the 
termination of which it is impossible to foresee.* 

The gentle and pacific spirit of Mr. Lindsey was averse to all 
personal and angry controversy : nevertheless, he regarded it as 
his duty to watch over the cause of which he had avowed himself 
the advocate, and particularly to notice any remarks which might 
be made upon his own publications, and which might give birth 
to any further corrections or illustrations of his arguments. The 
feeble and intemperate attacks of Burgh and Randolph had been 
sufficiently exposed by the Rev. A. Temple, M.A., a worthy 
clergyman of Richmond in Yorkshire, and solid evidence produced 
by him to prove that the universal church for a good part of the 
two first centuries was decidedly Unitarian. This gentleman, 
however, was not satisfied with Mr. Lindsey's interpretation of the 
proern to St. John's gospel; and in the year 1776, he published 
a pamphlet entitled " Objections to Mr. Lindsey ; s Interpretation 
of the first fourteen verses of St. John's gospel, &c." And two 
years afterwards another pamphlet was published entitled " A 
Letter to Dr. Jebb about the unlawfulness of all religious 
Addresses to Jesus Christ/' These works gave rise to a publica- 
tion by Mr. Lindsey, in the year 1779, entitled "Two Disserta- 

* This was written in 1812. The unexpected issue of this disastrous conflict is now 
well known. 



96 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



tions, i. On the Preface to St. John's gospel, ii. On Praying 
to Jesus Christ." In the first of these Dissertations the learned 
writer has alleged further evidence in favour of the interpretation 
of this difficult passage, which, after Le Clerc, Lardner, and 
others, he had advanced in the Sequel to his Apology, viz., " that 
the Logos in this Preface to St. John's gospel is not Christ, but 
the word, wisdom, and power of God, communicated to him and 
manifested by him." This interpretation, though adopted by 
many learned moderns, differs from that of the Polish Socinians, 
who by the Logos understand Jesus Christ, who at the com- 
mencement of his ministry was admitted like his great predecessor 
Moses to intercourse with God, from whom he received his com- 
mission, and by whom he w r as appointed to introduce that great 
change in the moral world w 7 hich is figuratively represented by 
the new creation. This hypothesis has been lately revived and 
ably defended by Mr. Cappe in the first volume of his ingenious 
and learned Dissertations, and the arguments on both sides are 
stated and abridged in the notes to the Improved Version of the 
New Testament. In the second Dissertation Mr. Lindsey shows 
with great force of reasoning that religious worship is not due to 
Jesus Christ. For, that God is one person, the sole object of 
prayer — that Jesus Christ is a man, and not God — that he never 
taught men to worship or pray to himself— that the worship of 
Christ is not deducible from his offices and powers — that the 
apostles never teach that prayer is to be offered to him — and that 
there is no sufficient precedent or example of praying to Christ 
recorded in the New Testament : under which head the learned 
writer gives an able, and, in general, a very satisfactory analysis 
of those texts which are commonly produced in favour of the 
worship of Jesus Christ. This pamphlet concludes with a post- 
script by Dr. Jebb, in which, though he denies the assertion of 
the letter-writer that he had referred to Mr. Lindsey's book in 
support of his opinions in the pamphlet containing the reasons 
for his resignation, he adds, " I will freely own that I entirely 
assent, both in general and particular, to the arguments by which 
Mr. Lindsey establishes the proper Unity of God, as well as to 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



97 



those by which he demonstrates the offering of addresses to Christ 
Jesus to be destitute of all scripture foundation : and that not- 
withstanding what his opponents have objected, I am persuaded 
he has sufficiently, and very ably, proved these points." 

In the year 1781, Mr. Lindsey published a small work in 
duodecimo, called " The Catechist,"* or an Inquiry into the 
Doctrine of the Scriptures concerning the Only True God, and 
Object of Religious Worship. In the preface he obviates the 
insinuation of Mr. Gibbon, that the evangelist John had borrowed 
the doctrine of the Logos from the philosophy of Plato. The 
work itself is cast into the form of dialogues between Artemon, 
an Unitarian Christian, and Eusebes, a virtuous inquirer after 
truth, who being dissatisfied with the popular opinions in which 
he was educated, is solicitous to gain information concerning the 
character of God, and the proper object of religious worship. 
The dialogue is well supported, and the argument is treated clearly, 
popularly, and concisely, of which the following is a fair specimen. 
In the sixth dialogue the question proposed is, " Whether Christ 
had not two natures, so that he was God and man at the same 
time, and all the depreciating things which he speaks of himself 
as being a creature belonging to his human nature only, as it is 
called ? " Artemon replies, " The supposition of Christ's having 

* " The title Catechist," says Mr. Lindsey, in a note to a work published two years 
afterw irds, i( prefixed to the work, and which occurred to the witer from the idea of 
the famous Origen being Catechist of the church of Alexandria, has, it seems, misled 
and disappointed some persons as if it were a composition fitted only for very young 
persons : whereas it was intended, whether it will answer the purpose others must 
judge, for those of mature age, who have not had sufficient leisure to attend to the 
subject; not without striving at the same time to make the whole plain to ordinary 
capacities." (Historical View, Pref. p. 1.) In a letter to Mr. Cappe, dated October 22, 
1782, Mr. Lindsey, says, " The title has long displeased me. It was taken up indis- 
creetly and in haste at first. A grave man the other day told me that he thought it 
related only to children, and therefore had not sent for it. As soon therefore as I have 
got off my hands what engages me at present, I shall profit by ycur hints ; and new 
mould the work in some measure, adding the second part to it, and, if life be continued, 
may add other parts, and particularly consider the doctrine of th- pre-existence in the 
same way." The title which the learned author proposed to give to the new-modelled 
work was, i( Dialogues concerning the True Grod, and the Object of Religious Worship." 
He did not, however, complete his design, the demand for the work not being sufficient 
to encourage a second edition until it was taken into the catalogue of the Unitarian 
Society. 

H 



98 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



two natures, a divine and a human nature, taketh for granted the 
very thing in question which ought to be proved. 

" It is a supposal which has no countenance whatever in the 
sacred writings. Our Saviour most assuredly used no reserve or 
ambiguity in what he said of himself. When he averred that he 
received life from the Father and Creator of all things, that he 
could do nothing of himself, he meant what he said most sincerely, 
and would have us so to understand him. When he prayed to God 
for help and strength, he stood in need of what he prayed for, 
and wanted that assistance which was given him. 

" It is a thing in itself utterly impossible that a being should 
be God and man; Creator and creature; self-existent, eternal, in- 
dependent, and limited, dependent, and having beginning of 
existence at the same time; omniscient and omnipotent, and yet 
ignorant and weak. These things are not compatible: we should 
be shocked at their absurdity, if they were not instilled into us 
before we began to make use of our reason, and if many were not 
afterwards afraid to make use of it about them, suffering them- 
selves to be dazzled by great names and authorities, and imposed 
on by high antiquity, which can give no prescription to what is 
unintelligible and impossible. In short, this doctrine of Christ 
being possessed of two natures, is the fiction * of ingenious men, 
determined at all events to believe Christ to be a different being 
from what he really was and uniformly declared himself to be; by 
which they solve such difficulties of scripture as they cannot other- 
wise get over, and endeavour to prove him to be the Most High 
God, in spite of his own most express and constant declarations to 
the contrary. And as there is no reasoning with such persons, 
they are to be considered and pitied, as being under a debility of 
mind in this respect, however sensible and rational in all others." 

From the commencement of Mr. Lindsey's connection with the 
congregation in Essex Street, it had been his earnest desire to 
obtain an associate whose principles, views, and feelings were con- 
genial with his own, mighty in the scriptures, zealous and intrepid 

* See Mr, Lindsey's Answer to Mr. Robinson, p. 172, note. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



99 



in the cause of the Divine Unity, who might actively co-operate 
with him in diffusing the light of Christian truth. While he 
could entertain the least hope of engaging the able assistance of 
Dr. Jebb, he could fix his attention upon no other person. But 
when every expectation of this kind vanished upon the deter- 
mination of his learned and pious friend to enter upon the pro- 
fession of medicine, his views and endeavours were directed to 
another most excellent and amiable person, a very respectable and 
learned member of the University of Cambridge; but in this 
application he w r as now also disappointed. He was almost ready to 
give up the point in despair, when to his great surprise and joy 
he received a letter from the Rev. Dr. John Disney, the rector of 
Pant on, and vicar of Swinderby, in the diocese of Lincoln, an 
intimate friend, and a near relation by marriage, informing him of 
his resolution to resign his situation in the church, and offering to 
unite w T ith him in officiating to the congregation in Essex Street. 
This was in the autumn of the year 1782. Nothing could be more 
agreeable to Mr. Lindsey than this proposal. He had indeed 
long been acquainted with Dr. Disney's scruples; but while his 
friend could reconcile himself to continuing in the church, Mr. 
Lindsey did not conceive it to be his duty officiously to solicit him 
to quit his preferment; especially as he knew how offensive this 
step would be to Dr. Disney's own connections, and particularly 
to the venerable archdeacon of Cleveland, whose daughter he had 
married. The trustees of the chapel and the friends of Mr. 
Lindsey cordially concurred with the wishes of their beloved 
pastor, who with his usual liberality offered his colleague, who 
had a growing family, a certain income nearly equal to that which 
he had resigned. And in return, some of his friends, subscribers 
to the chapel, had the consideration to increase their annual sub- 
scriptions ; and Mrs. Rayner, with a liberality peculiarly her own, 
added to her former annual donation fifty pounds a year, which 
she continued till Mr. Lindsey resigned his pastoral office at the 
chapel. Of Mr. Lindsey's feelings upon this happy occasion we 
may form a judgment from the following expressions of them in 
correspondence with his friends. " I must not delay to tell you/' 

h 8 



100 MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 

says he, in a letter to a friend, * dated November 28, 1 792, " lest 
you should hear of it less directly, that Dr. Disney, who left us 
last week, was here somewhat more than a fortnight, and during 
that interval resigned two livings to the Bishop of Lincoln, preached 
afterwards with great acceptance both parts of the day to our 
congregation, and the next day was approved as my colleague by 
as many of the benefactors to our building as were in town. 
This you will believe has made me very happy. I am» the more 
so, because it was an event unlooked for a few months ago. In 
the autumn, when I was at his house at Swinderby, I was in treaty 
with another friend and very eminent person to become my col- 
league. But I said not a syllable of it to Dr. Disney, for I knew 
how sore he was; and for six years past have never by letter or in 
conversation touched the subject of conformity." The Doctor, 
however, having heard by other means that this negotiation was 
at an end, " wrote to me," continues Mr. Lindsey, " to offer him- 
self, and the result has been as I have told you. I have been 
enabled to allow him something handsome, and some few friends 
have come forward to enable me, and so I trust everything will 
turn out as we wish it. We expect them in January. They have 
a journey first to make to the good archdeacon, who thinks that 
the original sin lies with me in drawing his son-in-law out of the 
church. But I have told you the truth and nothing but the 
truth." 

In a letter to Mr. Turner, dated January 1, 1783, Mr. Lindsey 
writes : " My new colleague is this week arrived with his wife and 
three children. The enclosed (viz. Dr. Disney's Reasons for re- 

* The Rev. Dr. Toulmin, then minister of a small congregation of Protestant Dissen- 
ters at Taunton, now settled with a very large and flourishing society of Unitarian 
Christians at Birmingham, the same which formerly enjoyed the privilege of Dr. Priest- 
ley's instructions. In this place persecution has produced its usual effect of multiplying 
the persecuted sect. Under the prudent, affectionate, and pious labours of their present 
venerable minister, and of his able and equally zealous colleague, the Reverend John 
Kentish, the cause of pure uncorrupted truth, and of serious and practical religion, without 
which knowledge is of no use, is advancing with a celerity most encouraging, and 
almost without example. Dr. Toulmin for many years kept up a regular correspondence 
with Mr. Lindsey, of which he has had the goodness to permit the author to avail him- 
self in drawing up this Memoir. N.B. This amiable and useful man died July 23, 
1815, universally beloved and regretted. He is succeeded in office by the Rev. James 
Yates, well known by his able and learned reply to Dr. Wardlaw, of Glasgow. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



101 



signing the Rectory of Panton, and the Vicarage of Swinderby) 
which I present you with in his name, will give you pleasure, 
as a mark of good sense and a good heart, and likely to do good 
in our common cause. I am the more pleased with this connec- 
tion, as it was both unthought of and unexpected." 



CHAPTER VI. 



MR. LINDSEY PUBLISHES HIS HISTORICAL VIEW. SOME ACCOUNT 
OF DR. WILLIAM ROBERTSON. SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING THE 
KNOWLEDGE OF THE SCRIPTURES. 

In the spring of 1783, Mr. Lindsey being now more at liberty, 
committed to the press a work, the materials of which he had 
been collecting for some years. This work is entitled, t€ An His- 
torical View of the State of the Unitarian Doctrine and Worship 
from the Reformation to our own Times ; with some Account of 
the Obstructions it has met with at different Periods." This is 
an elaborate work, and one of the most interesting and important 
of Mr. Lindsey's publications.* The professed design of it is to 

* The plan and title of this work is somewhat different from the author's original 
intention, as announced to his friend Mr. Cappe, in a letter dated October 22, 
1783. 

* The title of my intended work will be, Impediments to the Acknowledgment 
and Worship of the One Living and True Grod the Father, caused by (or arising from) 
Christians themselves, especially Socinians and Unitarians, from the Reformation to our 
own Times. 

" Chap. I. will contain, — 
"1. The state of the Unitarian doctrine at the Reformation. 
u 2. The state of the Unitarian doctrine in England at that time. 
" Under the last section will be an opportunity of comparing the advantages enjoyed 
from the liberal interpretations of scripture given on the point in question, with the 
narrow and systematic turn of our interpreters in general. 

"Chap. II. will contain, — 
" 1. Impediments from Socinus, and Socinians properly speaking. This will be a 



102 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



establish the great truth, that the One Almighty Father of the 
universe is the only God of Christians; and that he alone is the 
proper Object of worship. With this view the author intermixes 
illustrations of scripture with historical facts, many of which are 
little known, and are well calculated to excite the attention of 
those who are interested in theological inquiries, in detecting the 
corruptions and in recovering the genuine doctrinesof the Chris- 
tian religion. 

" These facts," says Mr. Lindsey, Pref. p. 5, "it is appre- 
hended, will be reckoned curious by such as wish to know what 
passes and has passed upon the stage of this world of ours, con- 
cerning a point of so sublime a nature, the diversity of opinions 
that have been entertained upon it, the warm passions it has 
excited, and the singular events to which it has sometimes given 
occasion, in whatever light they look upon the religion of Christ. 
But to those who believe that religion to come from God, it is 
presumed they will appear both important and curious. 

"The history of virtuous, upright minds and inquirers after 
truth, emerging out of the long night of anti-christian darkness, 
seeking the great Source of being and benevolent Father of all, 
and having found him., yielding themselves to torture and death 
rather than disown him, rather than not confess and maintain, 

large discussion. Socinus will be proved as he is really believed to be, an idolater ; 
and consequences will be intimated with respect to other Christians. 

** 2. Impediments from English Unitarians. Mr. Firmin; a good deal concerning 
him, and the Unitarians of his day. 

" 3. Impediments from Dr. Clarke, Bishop Hoadley, &c. 

e< 4. Impediments from Mr. Tucker, who was a complete Unitarian, but, out of good 
though mistaken motives endeavoured to quiet himself and others by giving an Uni- 
tarian sense to Trinitarian language. 

" Chap. III. will consider — 

" i. The general pleas for Unitarians attending Trinitarian worship which they dis- 
approve. 

" %. The part they ought to take." 

One cannot help wishing that the learned and pious author had more completely 
executed his plan, especially under the two last divisions. This is indeed an interest- 
ing and a painful subject; concerning which it is greatly to be feared that many err, not 
for want of knowledge, but of firmness of mind. For, of what avail is the still small 
voice of reason and duty in opposition to the loud clamours of self-interest, fashion, and 
the estimation of the world ? How few lay it seriously to heart, that a day is coming 
when the Man of Nazareth will be " ashamed of those who are now ashamed of 
hira ! ? 



REVEREND THEOPHTLUS LINDSEY. 



103 



and declare to others his transcendent majesty and excellency, 
and superiority to the things he has made, presents the most 
instructive, awful, and animating spectacle and lesson of all others, 
tending to inspire the reader with the like unshaken courage and 
love of truth, and loyalty to the righteous and moral Governor of 
the world. 

" It would be great satisfaction to be made an instrument in 
any the least degree, to lead others out of the mazes of im- 
penetrable mystery and polytheism to this parent Mind, to the 
first Good y first Perfect, and first Fair, alone worthy of the 
highest love, adoration, and gratitude." 

In pursuance of his design, the w r orthy author begins with 
representing the state of the Unitarian doctrine at the beginning 
of the Reformation, and exhibiting the superior advantages then 
enjoyed for understanding the scriptures in this respect. He then 
notices the promising state of the Unitarian doctrine in England 
at the time of the Reformation, with the violent means used to 
suppress it. He next treats of the worship of Jesus Christ by 
Socinus and his followers, and particularly enlarges upon the 
controversy on this subject between Faustus Socinus and 
Francis David, and upon the severity exercised towards 
David and others, for refusing to acknowledge Christ as an 
object of religious worship. In this chapter, Mr. Lindsey in- 
troduces a section in reply to some severe and unfounded remarks 
of Bishop Newton upon the Unitarians. The succeeding chapter 
exhibits the state of the Unitarian doctrine in the reign of Queen 
Elizabeth and of the Stuarts ; and the author here explains the 
cause of the great silence concerning the Divine Unity during 
this period, and gives some account of that truly eminent con- 
fessor John Biddle, M.A., of the University of Oxford, who, for 
the profession of his principles, was banished by Cromwell to the 
Scilly Islands, and afterwards died in prison. Then follows an 
account of the state of the Unitarian doctrine and worship from 
the Restoration to the close of the seventeenth century, in which 
is included a brief memoir of the celebrated Mr. Thomas Firmin, 
merchant of London, a disciple of Biddle, and his protector and 



104 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



friend; a man eminently useful in his day, the friend of Whichcote, 
Burnet, and Tillotson, an avowed and zealous Unitarian, but who 
hesitated not to conform to the worship of the established church, 
justifying his conduct, but surely erroneously, upon the principles 
of Dr. Wallis and the Oxford divines in the controversy with Dr. 
Sherlock, that the three persons in the Trinity wfere nothing more 
than three different characters or relations of one and the same 
Being. In the following chapter the author describes the state 
of the Unitarian doctrine and worship in the eighteenth century: 
and here he gives a particular account of the opinions and 
writings of Emlyn, of Whiston, of Dr. Samuel Clarke, of Bishop 
Hoadley, of Sir Isaac Newton, and of Abraham Tucker, the 
author of a curious and profound work entitled, " The Light of 
Nature pursued, by Edward Search, Esq/' The concluding 
chapter contains a relation of some circumstances favourable of 
late years to the progress of the doctrine of the Divine Unity, in 
which the worthy author, after representing the benefit accruing 
to the cause of truth from an open defence and maintenance of it, 
records some recent public declarations in favour of the Unitarian 
doctrine and worship, by an open and avowed separation from the 
worship of the Church of England. And in particular, he relates 
the circumstances of the first rise of the church of Unitarian 
Christians assembling in the chapel in Essex Street, to which he 
annexes a brief memoir of some eminent persons who had 
honourably, and from a sense of duty, avowed Unitarian prin- 
ciples, and some of whom had for conscience' sake resigned 
lucrative situations and fair prospects of preferment in the 
national church. In this honourable catalogue are the highly 
respected names of Dr. Robertson, Dr. John Jebb, Dr. Chambers, 
Mr. Tyrwhitt, of Jesus College, Cambridge; Mr. Evanson, Mr, 
Maty, Mr. Harris, and Dr. Disney.* 

* The following letter from the late learned and venerable Bishop of Carlisle, Dr. 
Edmund Law, was received by Mr. Lindsey in return for a present of this valuable 
work, dated Cambridge, September 23, 1783 : 

" Dear Sir, — I received the favour of your Historical View, and read it with satis- 
faction. You appear to have cleared up all the passages of scripture usually alleged in 
iavoux of he contrary opinion, and to have exhausted the subject. As a small return 



REVEREND THEOPHTLUS LINDSEY. 



J 05 



Of the first of tLese venerable worthies, Mr. Lindsey thus writes 
in the concluding paragraph of the Introduction : "Whilst I am 
finishing this sheet, I have an account sent me from Wolverhamp- 
ton of the decease of my ingenious, amiable friend, Dr. Robertson, 
mentioned near the close of the following work. He was born in 
Dublin, October 16, 1705, and died May 20, 1783." 

Of this truly eminent person, " this venerable father of Uni- 
tarian Nonconformity of our own days," as he is ^styled by Mr. 
Lindsey, I will here subjoin a few anecdotes which may serve to 
illustrate the uncommon excellence of his character. The follow- 
ing account of him is given by the late celebrated Thomas Hollis, 
Esq., under the fictitious name of Pierce Delver, which he assumed 
in his correspondence with Mr. Lindsey, in a letter dated 
February 2, 1768. It appears that Mr. Hollis had requested an 
interview with Dr. Robertson. 

"The Reverend] William Robertson, author of a work entitled, 
An Attempt to explain the Words, Reason, &c, &c, was with a 
certain person lately at his own desire, and stayed with that per- 
son from eleven till two. That person talked him over closely, 
so as to get informed of his family, education, situation throughout 
life, and present views. He found him to be in all respects a 
learned, ingenious, cheerful, polite man ; a voluntary martyr to 
the Candid Disquisitions, and religious liberty. He presented 
him with ten guineas, assured him of all his general good offices, 
with open doors at all times ; and though very sensible, yet a 
suckling to the world, suggested to him the likeliest means of his 
attaining some civil post, by what interest he possesses. At part- 
ing, Mr. Robertson was please to say, he should esteem that day as 

for the obligation, I must desire your acceptance of a new Cumberland edition of my 
Theory, purged of some ancient prejudices relative to pre -existence, &c. I have re- 
commended to my executors to procure a publication of Dr. Bullock's two Discourses 
which clear up the doctrine of atonement, and which I think I communicated to you 
formerly. The Bishop of Clonfert was returned to Ireland before your letter reached 
us. He would have been delighted with seeing your account of his favourite author 
A. Tucker, whose work I have often said wanted methodizing and abridging to be of 
more general use. My compliments to your worthy coadjutor, and to my old friend 
Dr. Jebb. That all the success and satisfaction may attend your labours to which they 
are so justly entitled, is the most heartv wish of your sincere friend and servant, 

"E. C." 



100 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



one of the most interesting of his whole life. And indeed so, in 
a certain sense, he might say, as the informations given him must 
necessarily appear new, many of them useful and determining.! 

" He is of a Scottish family, born in Ireland, was bred regularly 
for the church, was some years at school in Dublin, where his 
father lived, under Mr. Hutcheson, the after celebrated Scottish 
Professor at Glasgow, — studied several years in Glasgow, was pre- 
sented, so soon as he was capable of holding them, to Ravillyand 
other adjoining livings, by a then bishop, his patron. These 
livings are worth, on my poor memory, about £150 a year. On 
them he resided till about the year 1760, when he resigned them 
on account of his scruples in relation to some parts of the public ser- 
vice. Some art was used to induce him to resign these livings on his 
evidencing those scruples, with promise, in case he did quietly, of 
providing for him decently in some way suitable to himself. On 
such resignation, no care was taken of him, but, at best, much 
coolness shown towards him ; nor will, he thinks, and one person 
believes, any care be taken of him. Before his scruples he was a 
favourite of Lord Primate Stone, who recommended him to Dr. 
Robinson, then Lord Bishop of Ferns. Became a favourite of 
the Bishop's, who offered him the livings mentioned in his letter, 
value, I think, about nett £80 a year, £40 a year being allowed 
for a curate, with promise of further countenance. And be thinks, 
had he continued in the church and in favour of the bishop, now 
Lord Primate of Armagh, he should be probably possessed of 
church preferment at this time to the amount of £1000 a year. 
When he waited on his patron under scruples,, he was told, • You 
are a madman : you do not know the world/ 

"He has several children which are all tolerably settled, save 
one daughter single, who lives with another married. Himself 
alone has no subsistence. After having sought it years at Dublin 
in vain, he came over here in August last, to that end, with toler- 
able recommendations to two persons of some influence and will 
to assist him. These, however, had the indiscretion at best to 
tender it on the church line, to the amount of £100 a year or so ! 
which he declined at once, and so matters rest with him at pre- 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



107 



sent. Oue person has put him on a new plan, and hopes it may 
issue to subsistence. He is aged sixty-three, middle-sized, and 
tolerably hearty. The same person recommended to him to main- 
tain his cheerfulness, and was thanked for so doing. 

"My dear sir, I scribble off-hand and tired, but you cannot, I 
think, but perceive a colossus of a good man. In our age, he 
should indeed be miserable. There is great simplicity with, ease 
in his behaviour ; but I suspect under it, for my time was but 
short with him considering what I had to throw out to him, strong 
parts." 

The pains w T hich this respectable gentleman took to serve this 
worthy friend in procuring for him some civil establishment, were 
however unsuccessful. But in the same year a provision was 
made for him by the Merchant-Taylors Company of London, who 
presented Dr. Robertson to the office of head-master of the free 
grammar school at Wolverhampton, in Staffordshire. A laborious 
employment, and not very lucrative at best; and at this time 
charged with an annuity to a superannuated incumbent who had 
retired, and who lived some years afterwards. To this humble 
station did the venerable confessor repair, now in his grand climac- 
teric, when an office requiring less exertion might have better 
suited his advanced age ; and here he resided content and thank- 
ful for fifteen years, discharging the duties of his office with great 
reputation ; and though in this situation he survived all his 
children, and was left alone and unpropped, he still retained, as 
Mr. Lindsey expresses it, " that serenity and cheerful trust in the 
divine Providence, which can only belong to the virtuous and 
innocent mind."* But the malice of bigotry pursued him even 
into this retreat. 

* In a letter to Mr. Lindsey, dated March 9, 1769, Pierce Delver (Mr. Hollis com- 
municates to his friend the following interesting intelligence concerning this venerable 
confessor : 

"Dr. Robertson, I believe, at first thought the school in Staffordshire to be better 
circumstanced than it really was ; and afterwards having been chosen to it with great 
good will and earnestness of the trustees of it, he then thought it a kind of shame tc* 
decline it. A little before the Doctor went out of town, he communicated to me the- 
following singular and very fine anecdote, but in his own finer manner : ' That a 
country^ clergyman, of a good look and great simplicity of manners, had then lately 



108 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



It has been before stated, p. 28, upon Mr, Lindsey's own 
authority, that no consideration pressed more strongly upon his 
mind, nor urged him more forcibly to resolve upon his resignation, 
than the sentiments expressed by Dr. Robertson in his letter to 
the Bishop of Ferns. And when at last Mr. Lindsey had given 
up his preferment, and had succeeded so far beyond his expecta- 
tion in opening a chapel in Essex Street and establishing an 
interest which offered a good prospect of permanence, Dr. Robert- 
son appears to have been one of the first persons to whom he 
directed his thoughts and wishes as an associate in his labours. 
To this he was prompted more perhups by motives of veneration 
and gratitude, than by his usual sense of propriety and expedi- 
ence ; for Dr. Robertson, though vigorous and active for his years, 
and not unwilling to listen to the application, must at that time 
have been turned of seventy. To this application Mr. Lindsey 
appears to allude in a letter to Dr. Jebb, dated May 10, 1775. 

" R. was to have preached for me the last Sunday afternoon ; 
but on Friday he came to tell me he was not quite provided. He 
is, however, to do the duty on Sunday next. I shall be glad to 
engage him if approved by our congregation, and have told him 
so. But as what I can allow him will not be sufficient for his 
support, he is looking out for some that may be consistent with 
it, N.B. Half of what I at present receive from our subscrip- 

called upon him one morning at his lodgings, and asked him if his name was Robert- 
son? On being answered in the affirmative, he seized his hand, shook it heartily, 
said he had heard much of him, had read and approved his book, rejoiced to see him 
more than any man in England, and that having brought fourscore pounds to town 
to lay out by way of addition to some Stock which he already possessed in the Funds, 
there it was, pulling out a bag of money from his pocket and laying it upon the table 
by Dr. Robertson,— he could never dispose of it so usefully, so excellently, as to him. 
The Doctor, astonished, entreated him many times to put up his bag again, for that he 
had no need of it, being without want : which at length, with very great reluctance, he 
did, after having repeatedly exclaimed, Why ! man, I have no use for it; at least take a 
part.' The name of this clergyman was William Hopkins, of Cuckfield, a gentleman, 
it seems, who has long since distinguished himself for good sense, learning, and public 
spirit, by his writings. Archbishops of England ! Ireland ! who declare difference of 
opinion from your small sect to be a misfortune, match, if ye can, in your like, this pair! 
I oould not help saying to Dr. Robertson, that forboth's sake, I thought he should have 
taken ten guineas." 

So far Pierce Delver. After Mr. Lindsey's resignation, when he came to reside in 
London, Mr. Hopkins became his friend and correspondent. A few of this excellent 
man's letters are inserted in the Appendix, No. VII. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



109 



tions, the expenses of the chapel deducted, I propose to give him 
if we engage." 

What steps were afterwards taken do not appear. For when Dr. 
Jebb had fixed to leave the church and to remove from Cambridge, 
Mr. Lindsey could think of no other colleague till he had peremp- 
torily declined. After this, Mr. Lindsey's attention appears to 
have been again turned towards his venerable friend at Wolver- 
hampton, who thus addresses him in a letter dated April 5, 
1778: 

" Some weeks ago I had prepared boxes, and had actually packed 
up some of my luggage, and was saying to myself, Transmigratio 
hinc sit felix, faustaque ! when I was privately informed that 
there were some people here consulting together what methods 
they should take in putting the laws in execution against me for 
teaching a school without a license. The Company of Merchant- 
Taylors, London, who presented me to this school, 1768, had a 
bill filed against them in Chancery three years ago, by some very 
troublesome people of this town, to compel them to give an account 
of the issues and profits of the manor of Rushock, which was be- 
queathed in trust to them for the support of the school. The 
Company have set forth in their answer, that they have expended 
£1,200 upon this school more than they received out of the estate. 
And this I verily believe to be true. I have, therefore, upon every 
occasion vindicated the Company, and have spoken my mind very 
freely here with respect to the persons w 7 ho are plaintiffs in this 
suit. This, I find, has drawn upon me their displeasure; and as 
religion must be brought into every dispute, public and private, 
they have now, I am told, taken it into their heads to prosecute 
me on account of non-subscription. To this indeed, I believe, 
they have been instigated by some orthodox clergymen, w T hose 
zeal is without much knowledge. — And shall I now decline the 
contest ? No ! — I am resolved either to gain the victory over 
these assailants, or to fall gloriously in defending the most noble 
privilege of human nature: Liberty of Thought ! To fly now 
would look like cowardice. I cannot, therefore, avoid abiding the 
event. If they should proceed, you shall be informed of every step 



110 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



taken on either side. The cause between the Company and their 
accusers is to be heard by the Lord Chancellor next Term. If he 
makes a decree, as is expected, it may either animate or discourage 
these warm gentlemen. A little time will therefore determine 
that. I long to be with you, but I think it is my duty in present 
circumstances to continue here a little longer at least. I am but 
poorly in health ; both the gout and stone have been lately very 
pungent. But submission to my God, gratitude to my friends, 
afford the greatest .comfort to your most obliged and most affec- 
tionate, W.R." 

Who can read this excellent letter without admiring the piety, 
the fortitude, the magnanimity of this extraordinary man, this 
aged confessor, this veteran champion of Christian truth ? How 
dignified, how sublime, does Dr. Robertson appear, at the age of 
seventy-three, clad in the armour of innocence and truth ; collect- 
ing the remaining vigour of his powers, firmly resolved to stand 
his ground in the day of trial, and to perish in the conflict, rather 
than tarnish the honours of his former years, or to recede a tittle 
from that good confession to which he had cheerfully sacrificed all 
his temporal possessions and prospects ! In comparison with this 
Christian hero, how mean, how contemptible do his persecutors 
appear, insidiously and maliciously plotting in their dark cabals 
to deprive an old man of his bread, and to consign him to the 
horrors of a gaol ! And why ? Was it because he had offended 
against the laws of eternal justice and committed crimes worthy 
of bonds and imprisonment ? Was Dr. Robertson a bad neigh- 
bour, a faithless friend, a dishonest citizen, a disloyal subject ? 
This was not even pretended. What was it then that provoked 
the zeal, that roused the malignant passions of these holy in- 
quisitors ? It was this : that Dr. Robertson professed himself a 
worshiper of the Father only; of that Being whom Jesus wor- 
shiped, and of whom he speaks as his Father and our Father, as 
his God and our God. For the sake of this object, he had quitted 
his situation and all his hopes and prospects in a church where 
this pure primitive worship was not allowed, and had cast himself 
and a large family upon the wide world to seek their bread, with- 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



Ill 



out any friend but a good conscience, and without any patronage 
or protection but that of divine Providence. His enemies " could 
find nothing against him, except it were touching the law of his 
God." The crime charged upon this venerable confessor was the 
same which was alleged against the apostle before him; "after 
the way which they called heresy, so did he worship the God of 
his fathers." 0 Persecution, what a hideous fiend art thou in 
every shape, in every place, and in every age ! But never, surely, 
more hideous, more disgusting, nor more contemptible, than when 
enlisted in the service of men calling themselves Christians, to 
fasten thy venomous fangs upon such a character as Dr. Robert- 
son. 

Happily, in this case the success of the enterprise did not 
correspond with the malignity of the purpose. A flourishing 
school of Papists subsisted in the neighbourhood, zealously 
patronized by the lord of the domain, the same nobleman who 
being chairman to the bench of "Westminster justices demurred to 
register Mr. Lindsey's chapel, Lord Dudley and Ward ; and 
bigotry herself did not think it decent to prosecute a Protestant 
clergyman for keeping a school, while a popish seminary was left 
unmolested. Happily the danger of such persecutions is now 
passed; and in this enlightened age, and in this tolerant reign, 
both Protestants and Catholics are protected by law in the exercise 
of that indefeasible fight, that primary duty of parents to educate 
their children in the principles and habits which they judge to be 
most conducive to their virtue and happiness. But now let this 
excellent man tell his own story in his letter to Mr. Lindsey, dated 
April 27, 1778. 

u I congratulate you most heartily upon getting again into your 
chapel. But I hope you have too much prudence to go to dwell 
in the house till it gets the next summer's seasoning at least. 
My friend Mrs. Abernethy tells me she has got a seat in the 
chapel, and invites me to sit there. But you invite me to a higher 
station. It is possible I may accept of both. This day was our 
visitation, to which I was cited. I expected articles would have 
been exhibited against me, but none appeared. Our Official very 



112 MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 

civilly invited me to dine with him, and placed me next himself. 
I asked him if he had heard anything of the design against me 
that was whispered about. He made no direct answer to my 
question, but said I might be quite easy in that respect. There 
is a popish school set up in our town within this half year, — but 
one of much greater importance within two miles of us, kept in a 
house in which the Lords Dudley resided, and was set up by the 
late lord, whose lady was suspected of popery, for that purpose. 
This school is supported by large contributions from Catholics 
both at home and abroad, and contains now one hundred and 
fifty scholars, who are taught, and most of them clothed and fed, 
gratis. Now I find that a prosecution could not be carried on 
with any decency against me, without obliging the same persons 
to prosecute the masters and supporters of the popish school upon 
the same principles, and this design they know would meet with 
all possible discouragement from the ruling powers. Therefore, 
under the protection of popery, wonderful event ! I find myself 
safe. It was the profound policy of the counsellors of James II. 
to grant an universal toleration to all dissenters from the established 
church, amongst whom were included the Papists, and thus popery 
became tolerated at least, and highly encouraged. Protestant 
dissenters are more the objects of popish persecution than the 
established episcopalians. But though the devil shows sometimes 
as an angel of light, yet he is a devil still, and only puts on that 
appearance that he may the more effectually deceive, and in the 
end more surely destroy."* 

* This expression may be thought harsh, and to savour of a persecuting spirit, in 
one who was himself at that very time threatened with persecution. But let it be 
recollected, that the venerable septuagenarian was born in the reign of the last of the 
Stuarts, who earnestly sought to set aside the Act of Succession and to introduce a 
popish successor. And through the reigns of the two first princes of the House of 
Hanover the Papists were regarded, and as a body justly, as enemies to the family upon 
the throne, and decided partisans of a popish Pretender ; and were, therefore, properly 
considered by the friends of civil and religious liberty as political enemies ; who, if they 
gained the ascendency, would subvert the government and religion of the country, and 
introduce popery, tyranny, and persecution. The state of things is now materially 
cl anged. The Pretender's family is extinct ; and the present generation of English 
Catholics are as good and loyal subjects as the Protestants, and equally entitled to civil 
rights and to religious liberty. And though popery, as a system of faith and an 
enormous corruption of Christianity, ought still to be attacked by every argument of 



RE YE RE XD THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



113 



In September, 1783, a society, was instituted " for promoting the 
knowledge of the Scriptures." The meetings were held at Essex 
House. Among the original members of the society were Mr. 
Lindsey, Dr. Disney, w T ho accepted the office of Secretary, Dr. 
Jebb, Dr. Kippis, Dr. Price, Dr. Calder, Mr. Dodson, Mr. 
Lee, &c. in London ; and in the country, Mr. Tayleur of Shrews- 
bury, who generously remitted £100 to the society for immediate 
use, and entered himself as a subscriber of five guineas annually ; 
Mr. Shore, and Mr. Newton of Norton, Mr. Turner, Dr. Priestley, 
Dr. Toulmin, Dr. Law, bishop of Carlisle, and others, in all about 
thirty or forty members. The society limited its object to the 
illustration of the Scriptures, and declined all tracts which 
were wholly controversial, or which were formal defences or 
confutations of specific doctrines. A very able sketch of the 
society's plan was drawn up by Dr. Jebb, in which he states and 
illustrates what he calls the analytic plan of interpretation which 
the society proposed to pursue and to recommend, viz., Having 
selected a passage of scripture for the purpose of illustration, 
to begin with discussing preliminary questions relating to the con- 
nexion, &c. These being settled, the judicious interpreter is to 
proceed, by settling the text by a comparison of various readings ; 
by accurate translation, division, and punctuation ; by a concise 
well-digested commentary; by notes philological and explanatory; 
and finally, by adding doctrinal and moral conclusions. This, 
which is unquestionably a most excellent plan of interpretation, 

reason and scripture, the professors of that corrupt religion ought not to be laid under 
political restraint. Many of the Catholics themselves have learned in the school of 
adversity the true principles of religious liberty. And the Christian petition for 
universal religious freedom, originating with that eminent patriot and clergyman of the 
established church the Reverend Christopher Wyvill, presented to Parliament in June, 
1810, and ably supported by Samuel Whitbread, Esq., and W. Smith, Esq., was signed 
not only by Protestants of all denominations but by many gentlemen of distinction 
among the Catholics. Popery, as a political system, is no longer an object of terror. 
Babylon the great' is fall n. In this event the professors of rational Christianity must 
rejoice, and the friends of civil and religious liberty must share in the triumph. But 
this is a very different thing from insulting the individuals of the catholic persuasion. 
And nothing, surely, can be more ungenerous than rejoicing in the calamities of the 
aged and respectable pontiff; who is now (1812) a victim to a merciless tyranny. We 
exult in the fall of an anti-christian domination ; but we pity the sufferings of the man, 
a.,d execrate the cruelty of the oppressor. 

I 



114 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



was laid down as a general rule, without meaning to require 
from their correspondents a rigid conformity to it, or to any other 
specific model ; but to admit any communication which tended 
to the advancement of scriptural knowledge. 

This society did not flourish in the degree nor to the extent of 
the desires and expectations of its learned and benevolent founders.* 
Its members were never numerous, and they were very sparing 
in their contributions: the plan was too circumscribed, and 
interfered too much with the larger, the more comprehensive, 
and more useful plan of the Theological "Repository, at that time 
resumed by Dr. Priestley : and after languishing a few years, it 
was altogether given up. Not, however, without bequeathing 
a valuable legacy to the theological student, consisting of two 
volumes of Commentaries and Essays. Among these are a curious 
dissertation of Mr. Lindsey's upon John xiv. 1-3; and a 
gleaning of remarks on Mr. Travis's attempt to revive the exploded 
text of 1 John v. 7. A translation with notes, by Mr. Dodson, 
of the twelve first chapters of Isaiah, and likewise of the fifty- 
second and fifty -third chapters, which were all afterwards repub- 
lished by that learned writer in a complete translation of the whole 
book, with notes. Another communication was added by Mr. 
Dodson in the second volume, in the form of a letter to Mr. 
Evanson, in defence of his hypothesis concerning the spurious- 
ness of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John. Also tw r o 
inestimable dissertations of the Rev. Robert Tyrwhitt, one upon 
the " Creation of all things by Jesus Christ/' and the other upon 
the ' ' Resurrection of the dead through the Man Jesus Christ.*? 
The bulk of the second volume is made up of remarks, many 
of them very ingenious, upon select passages in the Old Testament, 
by the late Rev. Henry More, of Leskiard in Cornwall. 

* " This circular letter which our secretary sends," says Mr. Lindsey in a letter 
to Mr. Turner, dated December 5, 1785, " will but too much prove that our society 
does not flourish at present. Not that we receive no contributions to it ; but unless 
they have something original in them, and are ingenious, it would not answer our 
design to give them admission. You have well earned your dismission from such 
labours, though we cannot but lament it." 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



115 



CHAPTER VII. 

CONTROVERSY WITH ROBERT ROBINSON. ANALYSIS OF THE VIN- 
DICLE PRIESTLEIAN.E. MISUNDERSTANDING AND RECON- 
CILIATION WITH DR. RICHARD PRICE. 

In the beginning of the year 1776 the late celebrated Robert 
Robinson, minister of a Baptist congregation at Cambridge, pub- 
lished a book entitled f< A Plea for the Divinity of our Lord Jesus 
Christ."" This treatise, written with great ingenuity, and which 
breathes throughout a most amiable spirit of candour, is con- 
sidered by many as one of the most plausible and imposing 
defences of the popular doctrine concerning the person of Christ 
which ever issued from the press. So far indeed as argument is 
concerned, it is egregiously trifling, and contains a sort of defence 
of the deity of the Son of God which the learned Trinitarians, the 
Bulls and Waterlands of a former age, would have blushed to 
avow. It consists chiefly of a collection of texts arranged under 
different heads as suited the author's purpose, without any inquiry 
into their genuineness, without any attention to the connection, 
and even without any attempt to ascertain the correctness of the 
translation. These texts so arranged, the worthy author commented 
upon and explained agreeably to his own preconceived opinions, 
and with all the confidence of inspiration itself. He even goes so 
far as to denounce Jesus and his apostles as " idiots and im- 
postors," if they intended any other meaning than what he was 
pleased to annex to their language.* This specious and clog- 

* " Notwithstanding so many reasons for precision, Jesus Christ declares, All things 
that the Father hath are mine, a very dangerous proposition if he were not God." 
Robinson's Plea, p. 14. Again, p. 17 : "If they who ascribe the perfections of deity 
to Jesus Christ have fallen into an error, they have been led into it by the writers of 
the New Testament. If Jesus Christ be God, the ascription of the perfections of God 
to him is proper ; if he be not, the apostles are chargeable with weakness or wicked- 
ness, and either would destroy their claims to inspiration." Further, p. 18 : " Con- 

i 2 



116 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



matical style, combined with much ingenuity, and wit, and elo- 
quence, and accompanied with great liberality towards those who * 
held a different position, and particularly with many expressions 
of marked respect to Mr. Lindsey and Dr. Jebb, rendered the 
treatise extremely popular, and made a considerable impression 
upon many who ought to have been better informed ; but who 
were not forward to pry with too curious an eye into the validity 
of arguments in support of doctrines which they dare not dis- 
believe. " Accordingly," says Mr. Robinson's biographer, " a pro- 
fusion of compliments followed the publication, as well from 
several dignitaries of the church as from the dissenters. Dr. 
Hinchcliffe, bishop of Peterborough, Dr. Hallifax, afterwards 
bishop of Gloucester, Dr. Goddard, master of Clare Hall, Dr. 
Ogden, Woodw T ardian professor, Dr. Cooke, provost of King's 
College, Dr. Beadon, afterwards bishop of Gloucester, at that time 
public orator, and Dr. Tucker, dean of Gloucester, courted his 
acquaintance. And it was pretty generally agreed that the Plea 
was the best defence of the divinity of Christ which had been 
published." Handsome compliments likewise were paid to the 
author by ministers of his own persuasion, particularly Dr. 
Stennet, Dr. Evans, Daniel Turner, and several others of the 
moderate Calvinists. The Rev. Josiah Thompson, late of Clap- 
ham, in particular, writes, " I have read your Plea with singular 
pleasure, but not more than I expected from it. Everything you 
w T rite never fails to entertain and delight me." This good man 

sider now into what contradictions these writers must fall if Jesus Christ be not Grod. 
They contradict one another : they contradict themselves. They degrade writings 
which they pretend are inspired, below the lowest scribbling of the meanest authors." 

Such is the censure which this ingenious and well-meaning but mistaken writer 
passes upon Jesus and his apostles if they did not mean to teach the doctrine which he 
imputes to them, not a suspicion of which ever entered into their imaginations, not a 
single trace of which is to be discovered in their discourses or in their writings ; and 
from the very idea of which they would have recoiled with horror. 

" The few who examine and decide for themselves," says Mr. Lindsey, " are not to 
be dazzled and overawed by these confident declarations, knowing that mortals are 
oftentimes most ignorant where they are most presumptuous and assured. But it is 
not so with others ; especially if their prejudices lean that way already. Such violent 
language overpowers them before they are aware of it, and puts an end to all cool and 
fair inquiry, so that they will hear no reason from those of a contrary sentiment; and 
it will be well if even their resentments are not instantly kindled against them." 
— Exam, of Robinson's Plea, p. 4. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



117 



showed the Plea to Dr. Furneaux and Dr. Kippis ; but though 
these learned and judicious divines express themselves in hand- 
some and becoming terms of the author's superior abilities, and 
his great talents for original composition, they understood the 
controversy too well to pay any compliment to his argument. # 

Of the admirers of this celebrated Defence of the Divinity of 
Christ, though not in the number of Mr. Robinson's corre- 
spondents, the learned Archdeacon Blackburne is one of the most 
conspicuous. This eminent divine, who, it is plain, had paid 
more attention to the subject of Christian liberty than of theolo- 
gical controversy, thought but slightly of the arguments contained 
in Mr. Lindsey's Apology; and at the same time, he had too 
much good sense to be satisfied with the superficial replies of 
Burgh and Randolph. But after he had read Mr. Robinson's 
pamphlet, which he did not see till it came to a second edition, 
the good archdeacon, in the warmth of his zeal, began to think 
that the controversy was by this unanswerable work completely 
settled, that Unitarianism was now silenced for ever, and that all 
her learned advocates were humbled in the dust by " the sling and 
the stone " of this new champion of the orthodox faith. But let 
the worthy dignitary speak for himself. 

In a tract written in the year 1782, and printed in an Appendix 
to the Memoir of his Life, (prefixed to an edition of the Arch- 
deacon^ Works in seven volumes, in the year 1804, published by 
his son, the Reverend Francis Blackburne,) entitled an Answer to 
the Question, "Why are you not a Socinian ? ; ' Mr. Blackburne 
expresses himself thus : " When Mr. Lindsey's Apology came out 
I read it, and thought some things in it well enough. In other 
passages he seemed to me to be infirm in his proofs ; I then read 
several answers to him, w T hich, among a few tolerable hits, had a 
considerable mixture of weakness and absurdity. About five years 
ago, I know not what chance threw in my way a pamphlet entitled 
A Plea for the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. I perused this 
pamphlet with care and attention, and was both surprised and 
concerned to find so many of my friend Lindsey's arguments and 
* See Dyer's Life of Robert Robinson, p. 109. 



118 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



positions totally subverted, a fundamentis, provided the pleadings, 
reasonings, and authorities were well grounded. To prove this to 
myself I consulted a number of the texts he had cited, and found 
his superstructure bottomed upon a rock. It is now six years since 
this pamphlet was first published. I have looked in every news- 
paper, review, magazine, &c, I met with, and could never find an 
answer to it either from Mr. Lindsey, Dr. J ebb, Dr. Priestley, or 
even Mr. Evanson, who I think is one of the best writers among 
the Socinians, either ancient or modern. Indeed, so far as con- 
cerns the Socinians, I think it unanswerable." * 

Such was the judgment of the venerable Archdeacon of Cleve- 
land ; and in this judgment be was supported by the multitude, 
who always find it to be less trouble to take a doctrine upon trust 
than to examine its evidence with care. Thus was this spirited 
assailant for many years left master of the field, and his work not 
being answered was of course reckoned unanswerable. 

In the meantime the Unitarian divines were not negligent of 
what was passing, nor inattentive to the temporary triumph of 
orthodoxy in one of the chief seats of science and learning. Mr. 
Lindsey and Dr. Jebb were the principal persons whose writings 
were attacked in this popular publication ; and the author with 
much good nature had sent to each of those gentlemen a copy of 
his work, accompanied with letters professing his high regard for 
their talents, their learning, and their character, and apologizing 
for any expression which might through inadvertency have dropped 
from his pen, and which was capable of being construed into per- 
sonal disrespect. Courteous answers were of course returned. f 
But neither of the gentlemen so addressed entertained at that 
time any thoughts of writing a confutation of the Plea ; Dr. Jebb 

* Whether the archdeacon was ever convinced of the futility of the arguments of 
the " Plea," by that forcible train of reasoning which converted the candid author him- 
self, does not appear. His worthy biographer concludes the contrary. It appears, 
says he, that in the year 1785 an Examination of Mr. Robinson's Plea was published 
by the Rev. T. Lindsey, but without a name, and by him presented to Mr. Blackburne. 
We have not, however, been able to discover that the archdeacon's sentiments of Mr. 
Robinson's work underwent ;my change, as he recommended the serious perusal of it 
to some young clergymen, a very few weeks before his death. Blackburne's Works, 
vol. i. Memoir, p. cxxvi. 

t Dyer's Life of Robinson, p. 116. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



119 



being fully engaged in preparing for the new profession to which 
his views were then directed, and Mr. Lindsey being always averse 
to personal controversy, and neither of them regarding this super- 
ficial attack as deserving of a serious reply. 

The " Plea/' however, excited greater attention, and made a 
deeper impression than these gentlemen expected, and than its 
intrinsic merits deserved, and it soon became apparent that a 
reply of some kind was advisable. Mr. Lindsey, conceiving that, 
as the author resided at Cambridge, an answer to his work would 
come with the best effect from " that famous seat of learning/' 
inquired from time to time of some of his literary and theological 
friends at the university whether any notice was likely to be taken 
from the press of this new " Plea/'' which for a time had so much 
vogue. All, however, that he could learn was, "that it was 
looked upon as so very superficial, and had so little argument in 
it, that it could not long deceive any one, and needed no con- 
futation/'* 

Mr. Lindsey' s learned friends probably thought, and indeed 
justly, that his own writings having been the principal object of 
attack in the " Plea/' it was more particularly incumbent upon 
him to draw up a reply; and they knew that they could rely with 
confidence upon his prudence, his learning, his zeal, and his 
moderation. Mr. Lindsey himself, perhaps, was conscious that 

* Examination of Robinson's Plea, p. 3. A brief account of the origin of this pub- 
lication is contained in the following extract from a letter to Mr. Cappe, dated early in 
the year 1785, in which Mr. Lindsey requests Mr. Cappe to apply to Dr. Leechman, 
the principal of the University of Glasgow, for some authentic account of Professor 
Hutcheson. 

" Did you ever read Mr. Robinson, minister of Cambridge's Plea for the Divinity of 
our Lord Jesu3 Christ, printed first in 1776, which has undergone three editions] Mr. 
Archdeacon Blackburne has often asked me, in triumph, how we could go on in Essex- 
street without confuting this work 1 It is also much commended by several dignitaries 
in the church ; and held as gospel very generally among dissenters. I have been 
formerly and often pressed to take some notice of it. I asked the Cambridge men at 
the time and since, but they declined. Very much importuned by some persons lately, 
I have undertaken it, and am actually in the press. Unless I put my name to the 
work, about which I am not decided, not loving to appear in controversy, the title will 
be," &c. In another letter to the same friend, dated the 25th of February, he says, 
" I often wonder at myself, and am often not a little drooping, to think how I should 
venture on the public, when certain persons, so much more able and capable, are silent. 
But then it recurs, that it is fit something should be opposed to such triumphant non- 
sense and declamation, which seems well received because many know no better." 



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MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



the task properly devolved upon him ; and his sense of duty, and 
zeal for the cause which was, as he thought, so petulantly and 
dogmatically impugned, overcame his natural aversion to personal 
controversy, and determined him at length to put on the harness, 
and to enter the lists with his courteous but presuming opponent, 
and in the year 1785 he published, anonymously, " An Examina- 
tion of Mr. Robinson of Cambridge's Plea for the Divinity of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, by a late Member of the University." 

In his preface, Mr. Lindsey remarks, that " the Author here 
examined has seldom given himself the trouble of doing anything 
more than barely to bring together texts of Scripture, without 
explaining them, or even showing how they apply to his purpose 
in proving Jesus Christ to be truly and properly God ; presuming 
that it would be taken for granted, at sight and upon his authority, 
that they prove the point for which he assigned them ; so that the 
title of this tract of mine might with very great propriety have 
been, ' An Explanation of all the Texts of Scripture produced by 
Mr. Robinson in Proof of the Divinity of Jesus Christ/ How 
far it may afford anything new or useful the reader will judge." 

The learned writer, in his Examination of the Plea, pursues 
Mr. Robinson's method, and examines and sifts his popular 
opponent's defence of the divinity of Christ argument by argu- 
ment, and text by text. Accordingly, he inquires in order whether 
the sacred writers speak of God in peculiar appropriated terms, — 
whether Jesus Christ is the Supreme God, — whether the same 
titles are given to Christ in the Christian Scriptures which are 
given to God in the Jewish Scriptures, — whether the perfections 
which are ascribed to Christ are the same with those which are 
ascribed to the Supreme God, — whether the like worship is given, 
or commanded to be given, in the Scriptures to Jesus Christ as 
to Almighty God, — whether there be any passages in the Old 
Testament, and applied to Jesus Christ in the New, which prove 
Jesus Christ to be Jehovah, the Supreme God, — whether the 
Scriptures which foretell the destruction of idolatry by the 
Gospel have not been fulfilled, although Jesus Christ be wrongly 
worshipped as God, — whether, if Jesus Christ be not the Supreme 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



121 



God, Mahomet has written more clearly on the nature of Jesus 
Christ than the Apostles have, — whether numberless passages of 
Scripture have no sense, or a very absurd one, if Jesus Christ be 
a mere man, — and, finally, what is the source of men's erroneous 
opinions concerning the person of Christ, according to the author 
of the u Plea." After having with great ability and learning dis- 
cussed these important questions, explained and illustrated the 
several texts, confuted his opponent's arguments, and occasionally 
animadverted with a warmth and severity more than was usual 
with him upon the presumption, the ignorance, and the dog- 
matical spirit of the writer, and particularly upon his unbecoming 
abuse of the sacred writers if their meaning is different from what 
he chooses to represent, Mr. Lindsey concludes his treatise with 
some pertinent observations upon the inattention of the author of 
the " Plea " to those numerous passages of Scripture which in 
direct terms exclude Christ and every other person from all 
pretensions to deity., — on the general tenor of the Scriptures, 
from which no man of plain understanding would ever suspect 
more gods than one to be therein revealed, — and on the great 
injury which is done to true religion and the gospel by such 
representations of it. 

The success of this Examination was complete. From the time 
that it was published no person who had the least pretension to 
Biblical learning was heard to open his lips in defence of this 
famous Plea for the Divinity of Christ ; not a syllable was written 
in confutation of the Reply. Those who would not retract were 
at least compelled to be silent ; and it seemed to be universally 
conceded, that if the divinity of Christ was to be defended at all, 
it must be upon a very different ground from that which was 
occupied by this much vaunted performance. 

The impression made by the Examination upon the ingenuous 
mind of the author of the Plea was very considerable. Mr. 
Robinson was stung to the quick by the grave, and, as his con- 
science must have testified, the not unmerited rebuke of his 
unknown opponent. His friends urged him, his opponents 
challenged him, to stand upon his defence, or to fulfil his promise, 



122 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



— that " if ever he discovered his deception he would retract his 

error." He resolved, however, to keep a prudent silence. " I do 

not intend," says he, in a letter to a friend, " to answer the 

anonymous examiner. He hath not touched my arguments ; and 

his spirit is bitter and contemptuous. His faith stands on 

criticisms; and my argument is, that if the doctrine required 

critical proof, it is not popular, and therefore not divine. Yes, 

they will have the last word, and let them."* This amiable man, 

however, soon recovered the tenor of his mind ; and wisely 

profiting by rebuke, he paid greater attention to the important 

question, not disdaining to call in the aid of sober and just 

criticism, and in a short time reformed his opinion and became 

decidedly anti-trinitarian. This is a known fact. I shall mention 

but one proof of it. In a letter to a friend, dated March 4, 1789, 

speaking of an aged minister who had applied for relief to the 

Baptist-board, he says :— " Instead of sending him charity they 

sent him faith, and informed him that they had made a law not to 

relieve any except they subscribed a creed, a human creed which 

* See Dyers Life of Robinson, p. 113. It is said to have been a favourite maxim 
of this extraordinary man at one time of his life " Criticism is a good thing in its 
place; but woe to the system which depends upon it ! " And from this it has been 
weakly inferred by s me of Mr. Robinson's admirers, whose zeal exceeded their know- 
ledge that a doctrine supported by criticism must be erroneous, because, forsooth, the 
common people could not understand it. These wise men, it seems, are not aware that 
the main object of Scripture criticism is to discover the sense which would be most 
obvious to those for whose immediate use the Scriptures were written which must no 
doubt be the true sense, however contrary to modern ideas and prejudices. That Mr. 
Robinson was not serious in this sarcastic reflection upon criticism or that he afterwards 
thought more rationally upon the subject, is evident from the following extract of a 
letter to a friend : — 

" I have remarked only a few of the many ministers who are sincerely studying the 
New Testament, the four gospels I mean. I want a man who vindicates the book, and 
ascertains the fact, that the history of the incarnation is not an addition ; and this, 
by sober just criticism. I do not want authorities of great names ; I want reasons to 
convince my understanding, — I want one who gives me the genuine doctrine of the 
four gospels, before the epistles were written ; a man as familiar with Palestine as with 
his own country. I do not want a quoter of texts and a packer of ecclesiastical news ; 
I want a good sound logician, who knows how to reason, and who is no novice, — a 
cool, deliberate, honest disciple of Jesus, who pauses and weighs, and admits the 
refining fire of inquiry to bunrfreely." Speaking of Mr. Winchester, who taught the 
doctrine of universal salvation, he says of his opponents: — "They preach and print 
against him. They pretend that Grod is of their temper, and will not bate a day of 
eternity. They never knew what criticism tvas ; and they do nothing but chaunt for 
ever, and forever, and forever. Poor honies ! Servants who know not what their 
Lord doeth."— Dyer's Life of Robinson, p. 287, 289. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



123 



they sent him ; and the first article of which is : — There are three 
divine persons in the Unity of the godhead ! Absolute nonsense ! 
supported by tyranny over men's consciences.^* 

It is not quite clear to what distance from the standard of 
orthodoxy this ingenuous and inquisitive man carried his specula- 
tions upon the subject of the person of Christ. " For many 
years/' says one of Mr. Robinson's family and congregation in a 
letter to Dr. Priestley, dated three days after his decease, " but 
especially for the last two or three of his life, he taught the 
doctrine of the unity of the great Cause of all things expressly 
and effectually." He had promised himself much pleasure from 
an interview with Dr. Priestley ; and in a letter addressed to Dr. 
Priestley a few weeks before the interview, and the only one 
which Mr. Robinson ever wrote to him, he says: "I am indebted 
to you for the little I know of rational defensible Christianity. 
But for your friendly aid I fear I should have gone from enthu- 
siasm to deism : but a faith founded on evidence rests upon a 
rock." In the admirable sermon which Dr. Priestley preached 
and published on the melancholy occasion of the sudden death of 
this excellent man, the author expatiating upon the character 
of his deceased friend justly remarks, that " what most of all 
distinguished Mr. Robinson was his earnest love of truth, and 
his laborious search after it. Notwithstanding his long attach- 
ment to the doctrine of the Trinity, yet continuing to read and 
think on the subject, he came at length to change his opinion, and 
before he died he was one of the most zealous Unitarians. The 
subject of the Divine Unity was ever uppermost in his mind, and 
he urged it not only in season, but, as you would observe, out 
of season. Such also was his power of persuasion, such the 
excellence of his character and the just esteem in which he 
was held, that in time his congregation came almost universally to 
embrace his opinions, as I was myself informed about a year ago, 
by one of them who had himselff been a Trinitarian, but who 

* Dyers Life of Robinson, p. 300-301. 

t Dr. Priestley's Sermon on the Death of the Rev. R. Robinson, p. 20 21. This 
excellent man was found dead in his bed on Wednesday morning, June 9, 1790, after 
having preached twice at Birmingham the Lord's day before. 



124 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



was then a Unitarian." Dr. Priestley in a letter to a friend, 
expressing his delight in Mr. Robinson's conversation and his 
disappointment in his preaching, says " His discourse was uncon- 
nected and desultory, and his manner of treating the Trinity 
savoured rather of burlesque than serious reasoning. He attacked 
orthodoxy more pointedly and sarcastically than I ever did in 
my life."* 

Upon the whole, it is evident that Dr. Priestley and his friends 
regarded Mr. Robinson as decidedly an Unitarian in the sense in 
which Dr Priestley always used the word, that is, as a believer in 
the simple humanity of Jesus Christ, And there can be no doubt 
that these were the sentiments which he expressed in his last visit 
at Birmingham. Nor does it appear that Mr. Robinson was ever 
inclined to the Arian hypothesis concerning the person of Christ. 
His plea for the divinity of Jesus Christ is framed more upon 
the Sabellian than the high Arian scheme; and he tells Dr. Jebb, 
in a letter written at the time of its first publication, " It is not im- 
possible that our sentiments, much as they seem to differ, may, 
after all, differ less than they appear to do."f And in this, 
very treatise he scouts the Arian doctrine as utterly unscriptural 
and inadmissible. J 

* Dyer's Life of Robinson, p. 397. f Ibid. p. 118. 

$ In reply to the proposition which he puts into the mouth of a supposed opponent, 
" That God may enable an inferior being to create a world ; that Jesus Christ is such a 
delegated God ; " he answers, My concern is not with what God may do, but 
with what he declares he has done. I am Jehovah, and there is no God besides 
me. I am God, and there is none like me. Yea, there is no God, I know not 
ant. This is the God of my Bible. But besides this God there is in my proposition 
another God a delegated God. Here are two Gods. Here is a supreme God and 
a subordinate God ; a natural God, and an artificial God ; a great God, and a little God. 
A Philosopher has one God, a Jew has one God, but a Christian it seems has 
two Gods. What a world of difficulties belong to this proposition ! Is this delegated 
God entitled to worship ] The idea of a God without a title to religious worship 
is an idea inadmissible. Is all worship to be paid to the subordinate God, or does the 
supreme God claim any ? Which acts of devotion belong to the one, and which to the 
other ] A mistake would be dangerous, and I have no guide. Every inspired writer 
forsakes me. Jesus Christ, it seems, created all things in heaven and earth ; and 
a Creator, it seems, proves by creating his eternal power and godhead. The proposition 
says, God may empower a creature to create. Perhaps he may : but God declares 
he hath not done so. Hast thou not heard that the Lord, the everlasting God, the 
Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, &c. I am then obliged to reject 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS L1XDSEY. 



125 



It is however certain, that Dr. Priestley must have been 
misinformed with respect to the state of Mr. Robinson's con- 
gregation; for, though many of them had become decided Uni- 
tarians, many, and perhaps the majority, thought differently. And 
this mixture of jarring and inconsistent opinions in a religious 
societv is always to be expected where the eloquence of the speaker, 
and not the truth of principles, is the bond of union. The 
advocates of Mr. Robinson's expiring orthodoxy maintain that he 
never did in the pulpit directly avow the doctrine of the mere 
humanitv of Jesus Christ; and that, if he professed this opinion 
at Birmingham either in the pulpit or in the parlour, it is to 
be recollected that at that time he laboured under great infirmity 
both of body and mind ; and that of this he was himself so very 
sensible, that to a person who was then introduced to him he made 
the affecting declaration, " You are only come to see the shadow of 
Robert Robinson.-"* It is argued therefore, and with some 
degree of plausibility, that, in this debilitated state of health 
and intellect, it is not easy to collect the last deliberate result of 
the calm judgment and mature reflection of his better days. It 
is however said that Mr. Robinson had avowed Unitarian principles 
in conversation before his constitution was impaired : at the same 
time he might not be so far confirmed in these principles, or think 
them of such great importance, as to feel it to be his duty explicitly 
to avow and to defend them before a mixed assembly of persons 
holding a great diversity of sentiments. 

Dr. Priestley, in his Defences of Unitarianism, for the year 
1786, having taken occasion, from his controversy with Dr. Horne, 
then dean of Canterbury and president of Magdalen College, 
Oxford, afterwards bishop of Norwich, to address a series of 

the notion of a subordinate God, a delegated Creator and to admit that the living and 
true God united himself to the man Jesus." — Robinson's Plea, p. 66-68. 

It seems very in probable that a person who argues so forcibly and unanswerably 
against the Arian hypothesis should himself soon afterwards become an Arian. 
The natural process of such a mind, after discarding the divinity of Christ, would be to 
adopt that of his simple humanity. Such was the progress of Mr. Lindsey'e reflections 
and such probably was that of Robert Robinson. 

* Dyer's Life of Robinson, p. 397. 



126 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



letters to the young men who are in a course of education at the 
Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, upon subscription to 
articles, the doctrine of the Trinity, and on the difficulties attending 
an open acknowledgment of the truth, a smart letter in reply 
to Dr. Priestley was published under the signature of an Under- 
graduate, which was however soon discovered to have proceeded 
from the pen of the worthy President of Magdalen. To this 
letter the learned champion of the Unitarian faith made a very 
suitable and spirited answ r er in his Defences of Unitarianism 
for the succeeding year, under the impression that the pamphlet 
had been really written by a youth of the lowest form in the 
University. But Dr. Home, though a good-natured man, and 
upon the whole a candid disputant, had occasionally followed 
the illiberal practice introduced by those controversial bravos, 
who having first entered the lists with Dr. Priestley, soon discovered 
that it was by much the easiest and shortest method of dealing 
with their formidable antagonist to assume a lofty and super- 
cilious air, and to arraign his literary character, instead of dis- 
proving his stubborn facts, and refuting his potent arguments. In 
this crisis Mr. Lindsey generously stood forward in defence 
of his insulted friend; and in the year 1788 he published a 
volume entitled " Vindicise Priestleianae, an Address to the 
Students at Oxford and Cambridge, occasioned by a Letter to Dr. 
Priestley from a Person calling himself an Undergraduate, &c." 
" The idea of drawing up this tract first arose," as he informs his 
readers in the preface, " from observing a studied affectation in 
many persons of treating Dr. Priestley's theological and metaphy- 
sical writings with slight and contempt, and an endeavour in 
others particularly to infuse the like sentiments of him in the 
rising generation. 

" I had no view therein," continues Mr. Lindsey, " was I capable 
of it, of lending him any aid against the attacks made upon him, 
as if he were in danger of being overpowered by his opponents. 
For he is more than equal to a w r hole host of them, which 
they have all experienced in their turns ; Bishop Horsley, one 
of the most violent of them, the least of all excepted. But 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



127 



I thought it might be possible for another to suggest some 
circumstances, and to say certain things in his behalf, which 
he would never think of offering, and which indeed could not 
so properly come from himself, by which the edge of prejudice 
might be taken off, and a juster estimate formed of him and 
his writings." 

In the progress of the work the learned author vidicates Dr. 
Priestley's conduct in addressing his letters to the youth of the 
two universities, and represents subscription to articles and creeds 
as a grievance which had long been complained of. He enters 
at large into the defence of his friend's character as a philosopher 
and a theologian. In the department of philosophy he introduces 
a very high encomium upon him by Mr. Kirwan, the late venerable 
and learned president of the Royal Society of Ireland, drawn 
up in the year 1787, of which I shall take leave to transcribe 
an extract. 

" To enumerate Dr. Priestley's discoveries/' says this eminent 
philosopher, " would be to enter into a detail of most of those 
that have been made within the last fifteen years. How many 
invisible fluids whose existence evaded the sagacity of fore- 
going ages has he made known to us ! To him pharmacy is 
indebted for the method of making artificial mineral waters, as 
well as for a shorter method of preparing other medicines; 
metallurgy, for more powerful and cheaper solvents ; and chemistry, 
for such a variety of discoveries as it would be tedious to recite : 
discoveries which have new modelled that science, and drawn to it 
and to this country the attention of all Europe." 

Mr. Lindsey adds, "that Dr. Priestley's genius is equal to 
all subjects ; that he is remarkable for selecting only the strongest 
and most suitable arguments, and applying and arranging them 
with exquisite method and simplicity, and seldom to fail to 
work conviction in the unprejudiced mind." 

He then proceeds to vindicate a declaration of Dr. Priestley's 
in his debate with Dr. Price, that he could not pretend to say 
when his creed would be fixed ; a declaration which the soi-disant 
undergraduate affects to ridicule, but which Mr. Lindsey plainly 



128 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



proves to be a truly just and philosophic maxim, and confirms 
by the testimony of Archbishop Tillotson, who mentions it to 
the commendation of his deceased friend, Dr. Whiehcote, " that he 
was so wise as to be willing to learn to the last." 

The learned author next proceeds to justify Dr. Priestley's 
sentiments concerning the inspiration of the Scriptures, the im- 
perfection of the Mosaic account of the fall of man, and the 
occasional inaccuracy of the apostle Paul's reasonings. And upon 
these subjects he introduces some curious extracts from a work 
of the celebrated Castellio, but little known, entitled "De arte 
dubitandi et confitendi, ignorandi et sciendi," and which was 
published by Wetstein at the end of the second volume of his 
New Testament. " The title itself/' says Mr. Lindsey, " has 
more in it to be learned than you find in many large books. 
For it is no ordinary attainment to know when to doubt, and 
when to be assured, and when to be ignorant." 

In the course of this excellent little treatise, amongst other 
pertinent observations, the learned and liberal writer remarks, 
that "men with difficulty admit at first, what they have been 
ignorant of, however most true it be. For, as Christ says, 
those that are used to old wine do not immediately take to 
the new, though it be better. But we must not be discouraged in 
our attempts^ when persuaded of the truth of what we have 
to offer, if we would in earnest serve mankind. Otherwise, if we 
go on in the same track with those who have never benefited 
the world, we shall, like them, be wholly useless." 

The Dean of Canterbury having in his undergraduate's letter 
represented Dr. Priestley's notion concerning the simple humanity 
of Christ to be as incredible as the " stories of the Alcoran,"* 
Mr. Lindsey remonstrates upon the indecorum of the remark, 
and shows that the simple humanity of Jesus is the doctrine both 
of the Hebrew and the Christian Scriptures; and he cites a 
passage from the Last Sentiments of Pere le Courayer, a work of 
that celebrated Catholic refugee given by the author to the 
late Princess Amelia, and bequeathed by her to Dr. Bell the pub- 
* Undergraduate's Letter to Dr. Priestley, p. 25. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



129 



lisher, in which that learned divine avows his opinion concerning 
the person of Christ, which nearly coincides with the proper 
Unitarian doctrine. 

This excellent man was under the necessity of leaving France 
on account of a treatise which he published in vindication of the 
validity of English episcopal ordination. " He was a person/ 3 
says Mr. Lindsey, " of remarkable simplicity of manners and 
sweetness of disposition, and of a constant, even cheerfulness, 
befitting the innocence of his life, and his well-grounded hope of 
exchanging it for a better. I lived formerly for months together 
under the same roof with him, in a noble family who had been 
his friendly protectors from the time of his being forced to fly his 
country for his religious opinions." This venerable man lived to 
the age of ninety-three, and continued to the end of his life in the 
communion of the Roman church.* 

In reply to the supposed undergraduate, Mr. Lindsey further 
pleads, that Christ being a human person, his power and know- 
ledge were necessarily limited, and that Dr. Priestley is right in 
ascribing to him the frailties and moral imperfection and pecca- 
bility of human nature. Also, that the question concerning his mira- 
culous conception has nothing to do with his qualification for his 
office. He maintains, that Dr. Home errs widely from the doctrine 
of the New Testament, in his notions concerning the atonement 
and intercession of Christ. And he justly rebukes the worthy Pre- 
sident of Magdalen for the false and invidious light in which he 
has represented Dr. Priestley's opinions concerning the nature of 
the soul and the state of the dead, which nevertheless were per- 
fectly consonant to the doctrine of the holy Scriptures, and had 
been very zealously supported by Luther, the great reformer, and 
more lately by two very learned dignitaries of the established 
church not long since deceased, viz. Dr. Law, Bishop of Carlisle, 
and Archdeacon Blackburne, to both of whom he pays a tribute 
of deserved applause. The work closes with some just animad- 
versions upon Dr. Hornets fanciful interpretation of many pas- 

* See an excellent later from this amiable and learned ecclesiastic to Mr. Lindsey, 
Appendix, No. IX. 

K 



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MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



sages of Scripture, and particularly of his strange and extravagant 
commentary upon the book of Psalms, in which he applies almost 
everything to Christ which the writer addresses to the Supreme 
Being ; and a neat and very proper form of reply is proposed from 
the students of the University to Dr. Horne. A postscript is 
added, containing a very high and justly merited character of Dr. 
Priestley's History of Early Opinions concerning Christ. 

To the large account which I have already given of this work, 
I will take leave to add a short extract which exhibits a striking 
view of the feelings and character of the pious and benevolent 
author. He is remarking upon the sad and sombre view of the 
physical and moral state of the world, which the learned Bishop 
Butler exhibits in his celebrated Treatise upon the Analogy of 
Religion, Natural and Revealed. Of this eminent prelate, Mr. 
Lindsey had some personal knowledge; and he speaks of him as 
a person that had great piety, but of a gloomy cast, and tending 
to superstition, which he seems to have caught from reading the 
lives of Romish saints. He always appeared dissatisfied with the 
public state of things and of the world ; which probably originated 
in the erroneous opinions which he entertained of the character of 
the Divine Being, and of his governing providence. In his Ana- 
logy he represents the world as having the appearance of a ruin, 
and that mankind, according to the Scriptures, are in a state of 
degradation.* 

* Mr. Lindsey occasionally met this respectable prelate at the Duchess of Somerset's. 
The following extract from a letter written by the Bishop to the Duchess soon after his 
promotion to the see of Durham, and which she transmits to Mr. Lindsey in a letter 
dated July 23, 1751, exhibits, as the noble writer expresses it, "a pleasing picture" of 
the Bishop's mind. 

" I had a long letter last Friday," says her Grace, "from the good Bishop of Durham, 
and will transcribe a paragraph of it, as I think you will like to know what his thoughts 
are an idst the novelty of pomp which surrounds him. 

" ' I had a mind to see Auckland before I wrote to your Grace ; and as you take so 
kind a part in everything which contributes to my satisfaction, I am sure you will be 
pleased to hear that the place is a very agreeable one, and fully answering expectations, 
exrept that one of the chief prospects, which is very pretty (the river Wear, with hills 
much diversified rising abovn it), is too bare of wood. The park not much amiss as to 
that. But I am obliged to pale it anew all round, the old pale being quite decayed. 
This will give an opportunity, with which indeed I am much pleased, to take in forty 
or fifty acres competently wooded, though with that enlargement it will scarce be suffi- 
cient for the hospitality of the country. These, with some little improvements and 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



131 



Upon this, Mr. Lindsey remarks, p. 253, " Surely this is an 
exhibition of the dark side of things, giving a partial and untrue 
account of our present state/ 3 He adds, p. 254, Ci Far, very far, 
is it from being a miserable world that we now live in, but very 
much the contrary : nor, I apprehend, has there ever been any the 
least reason to call it so in general, however some individuals may 
have suffered much in it" 

" For my own part/ 3 says he, p. 256, " I am bound to say, 
that my condition has been most happy from the beginning of my 
existence to the present day. Happily preserved from great cala- 
mities, I have not been exempt from hardships, reverses, and sick- 
nesses 5 but the kind hand of Providence has been discernible in 
them all, leading to good by them. I have most particularly 
cause to speak well of those of my fellow-beings whom I have 
been acquainted with, and among whom my lot has been cast; 
and I would desire no better company for ever than those I have 
known, and loved, and esteemed, and heard, and read of, especially 
when divested more of all selfishness and terrene concretions, as 
Edward Search calls them, which w T e expect, nay, rather are per- 
suaded, will take place in our future progressive state. Indeed, 
was there to by no such state, and all was to end here, though so 
dark and abrupt a conclusion of the fair promising scene is not 

very great repairs, take up ray leisure time. Thus, madam, I seem to have laid out 
a very long life for myself; yet in reality everything I see puts me in mind of the 
shortness and uncertainty of it : the arms and inscriptions of my predecessors, what 
they did, and what they neglected, and, from accidental circumstances, the very place 
itself, and the rooms I walk through and sit in : and when I consider in one view the 
many things of the kind I have just mentioned which I have upon my hands, I feel 
the burlesque of being employed in this manner at my time of life. But in another 
view, and taking in all circumstances, these things, as trifling as they may appear, no 
less than things of greater importance, seem to put upon me to do, or at least to begin : 
whether I am to live to complete any or all of them, is not my concern.' " 

The Duchess adds, in a style that does credit to her piety, " I thought this so 
pleasing a picture of this excellent prelate's mind, that I could not deny you or myself 
the satisfaction of sending you a copy of it. Libertines may lay schemes and talk as 
much as they please of happiness, but it can only reside in the breast of the sincere, 
humble Christian." 

It may not be amiss to add, as one proof among thousands of the vanity of human 
grandeur, or, to use Mr. Burke's memorable language, k< what nothings we are and 
what nothings we pursue," that this excellent prelate enjoyed his splendid preferment 
but for a short time. He was translated to the see of Durham in 1750, and died at 
Bath of a decline in June, 1752, within less than a year after he had written the 
above letter, and in the sixtieth year of his age. 

K 2 



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credible, and would be wholly unaccountable, I must for my part 
take my leave and depart as a well- satisfied guest: satur conviva 
recederem : thankful that I had passed so many happy days, and 
lived, and seen, and experienced so much qf the goodness of my 
Creator, and been favoured with the knowledge of so many 
amiable and valuable characters among my species, though con- 
cerned to take a farewell for ever of the one and the other, and to 
know nothing any more." 

Mr. Lindsey having in this work connected the name of Dr. 
Price with that of Bishop Butler, p. 249, as having "fallen into 
and adhered fixedly to this gloomy and unscriptural doctrine, that 
repentance alone is not sufficient to restore sinful mortals to the 
favour of their Maker;" and having, contrary to his usual mode- 
ration of language, ascribed this to their " not keeping strictly to 
the doctrine of Scripture concerning the Divine Unity and the 
proper humanity of Christ, there delivered in the clearest cha- 
racters to all who come not to the reading of it under a rooted and 
fixed contrary persuasion ; " and having in other parts of his book 
expressed himself in terms which bore rather hard upon his Arian 
brethren, this unprovoked attack drew from Dr. Price, who felt 
himself not a little hurt upon the occasion, the following spirited 
letter to Mr. Lindsey, dated Hackney, May 26, 1788 : — 

" Dear Sir, — I know not how to avoid writing to you a few 
lines to return you thanks for your book in defence of our friend 
Dr. Priestley. I have read it with pleasure, and been instructed 
by it. If, contrary to my apprehensions, the Socinian doctrine is 
true, I wish you success in your endeavours to propagate it ; but 
whether true or not, good must be done by all fair and candid 
discussions of it. — You have done me honour by joining me to 
Dr. Butler : but will you excuse me if I tell you that I am sorry 
that, in your animadversions on him, you have not intimated that 
I do not think as he does on the subject of worshipping Christ, 
and that I have given an account of the Divine character and 
government, and human life, very different from that which vou 
censure ? I am afraid that, from your not distinguishing between 
him and me, those who read you only will be led to very wrong 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



133 



ideas of my sentiments on these points, and also on the dignity of 
Christ, and our redemption by him. 

" My convictions, generally, are only a preponderance on one 
side, attended with a feeling of difficulties ; and I am often ready 
to wish I was more assured of the truth of my opinions. But in 
forming this wish I am checked by reflecting, that this assurance 
is most enjoyed by those who are most in the wrong, — Trinita- 
rians, Calvinists, Papists, &c. ; and that were I possessed of it 
with respect to my opinion of the dignity and offices of Christ, I 
might possibly be led to a sad loss of candour by charging 
Socinians, as you do Arians, with ' resisting an evidence so in- 
surmountable that all the rational are seeing it every day more 
and more/ p. 189, and ' so vast that every eye must see it that is 
not wholly blinded by prejudice/ p. 177. And also by saying of 
some of the ablest and best men who differ from me, but of whom 
I have every reason to believe that they inquire as fairly and as 
diligently as myself, that ' they see things through a mist/ that 
they are ' ignorant and gloomy/ that i they have narrow minds 
bound down to a system/ and 'have never properly searched the 
Scriptures to see what Christianity is/ 

" I am, dear Sir, 
" With affectionate and sincere respect, yours, 

" Richard Price." 

The venerable advocate of the Unitarian doctrine felt the justice 
of the rebuke, and immediately returned the following answer : 

"Dear Sir, — As there is no one living for whom I have a 
higher respect and esteem than yourself, I am proportionably 
concerned that you think yourself at all intended or involved in 
what I say of Bishop Butler and his system. To make what 
reparation I can, if my book should ever come to a second edition, 
I will either omit your name entirely, p. 249, and I now wish I 
had done it ; or, when I publish Part II., which I hope to be able 
to do in the course of the next year, I will do that justice which 
is due to your very different sentiments to those of Bishop Butler. 

" For that perhaps too vaunting style in which I speak of Christ 



134 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



being purely one of the human race, and of no other order of 
beings, I make some apology to my young men, p. 168, and am 
sorry that any conclusion should be drawn from it but that of 
speaking from the fullness of my own mind, without the least 
thought of casting blame on those of different sentiments, or 
impeaching their judgments or understandings." 

This letter gave complete satisfaction to the ingenuous and 
liberal mind of Dr. Price, and produced in return the following 
candid reply, dated June 2, 1788 :— 

" Dear Sir, — Accept my best thanks for your kind letter. It is 
extremely satisfactory to me, and leaves in my mind no room for 
any other sentiments than those of affection and respect which I 
have always entertained for you. If my letter discovered any 
degree of unreasonable sensibility, I hope you will forgive me. 
Indeed, I care not what strong expressions of dislike are applied 
to my opinions concerning Christ, provided they are properly 
represented, and I am not understood to hold that he is almost 
equal to the Supreme God, a sentiment at which I shudder, and 
which probably no Arian now holds." 

Thus did these two Christian worthies of congenial spirits, 
equally lovers of truth, of virtue, of unrestrained freedom of 
inquiry, and of political and religious liberty, by mutual forbear- 
ance, explanation, and concession, put an end to the misunder- 
standing which for a short time cast a cloud upon their counte- 
nance and interrupted their accustomed harmony. 

Mr. Lindsey, agreeably to his promise, performed his amende 
honorable in the Introduction to his Second Address to the 
Students of Oxford and Cambridge, published in the year 1 790, 
where, p. xxx, he " takes blame to himself for having in the 
former part, without just grounds, included Dr. Price in Bishop 
Butler's gloomy conclusions concerning the character of the moral 
governor of the world, whose notions in this respect that excellent 
person is as far from approving, as from countenancing the 
Bishop's metaphysical, superficial way of introducing two new 
deities among Christians, without ever in any proper way con- 
sulting the Bible about them." Mr. Lindsey adds, "I should 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



135 



indeed be in pain if in anything of importance to morals I should 
differ from Dr. Price, whose judgment and heart I must ever 
honour ; who from the first of my coming to settle in this great 
city has been one of my chief friends, and whom to know is the 
same as to esteem and love." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

ANALYSIS OF MR. LINDSEY's SECOND ADDRESS. DR. WATTS's 
UNITARIANISM. MR. LINDSEY^S ALARM AT DR. PRIESTLEY^S 
BOLD ASSERTIONS, AND ULTIMATE CONVERSION TO HIS 
DOCTRINES. 

"The Second Address to the Students of Oxford and Cambridge, 
relating to Jesus Christ and the Origin of the great Errors con- 
cerning him/' was originally designed to trace the invention of 
these errors to the honest enthusiasm of Justin Martyr, and to 
exhibit a list of false readings and mistranslations of the English 
Bible which contribute to support them. But in the meantime, 
the Rev. John Hawkins having published his Bampton Lectures, 
which contained some curious arguments in favour of the doctrine 
of the Trinity, Mr. Lindsey regarded it as not travelling much 
out of his road to introduce a few animadversions upon this gen- 
tleman's doctrine, and to exhibit to serious and inquiring youth a 
better mode of reasoning from the evangelical writings. 

The doctrine of the Trinity, as Mr. Hawkins describes it, 
maintains the existence of " three efficient, living, intelligent 
persons, the sovereign causes and rulers of all things;" and he 
strangely presumes that this was the doctrine of the church pre- 
viously to the publication of the holy writings; and that, if this 
fact be allowed, the Scriptures " are sufficiently full and intel- 
ligible;" but if otherwise, they contain "more than enough to 



136 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



perplex and misguide the readers, and to lead them into errors of 
the first magnitude/"* So that, upon Mr. Hawkins's hypothesis, 
the Scriptures do not teach the doctrine of the Trinity, but only 
allude to it, and that obscurely. From whence it follows, that no 
one who takes his creed from the New Testament only, will believe 
in the doctrine of the Trinity. 

Mr. Lindsey, justly regarding it as a vain attempt to reason 
with a person who advanced an hypothesis so arbitrary and 
unfounded, thought that he should engage the attention of his 
readers to better purpose by presenting them with " a sample of 
the right method of interpreting the sacred writings." Accord- 
ingly, he exhibits in his first chapter the evidence concerning the 
person of Christ contained in the four Evangelists and in the Acts 
of the Apostles, and thanks Mr. Hawkins for putting him upon 
the inquiry ; as, says he, " it has given me an opportunity of 
drawing forth and exhibiting, even beyond my own expectation, 
the most overwhelming evidence of the following facts, clear and 
plain to every understanding, and which all men who believe the 
Scriptures sooner or later must bow down to and acknowledge : 
namely, 

" 1. That there is One God, one single person who is God, the 
sole Creator and Sovereign Lord of all things. 

"2. That the holy Jesus was a man of the Jewish nation, the 
servant of this God, highly honoured and distinguished by him. 

" 3. That the Spirit, or Holy Spirit, was not a person or 
intelligent being, but only the extraordinary power or gift of God, 
first to our Lord Jesus Christ himself in his lifetime, and after- 
wards to the apostles and many of the first Christians, to impower 
them to preach and propagate the gospel with suceess."f 

In the second chapter the learned author produces evidence to 
prove, " that Justin Martyr was the first person who ascribed 
divinity to Christ, by maintaining, that before his works of creation 
God produced from himself a rational power or agent, in scripture 

* Mr. Lindsey's Second Address, Introd. p. vi. Hawkins's Discourses at the 
Bampton Lecture, p. 59. 
t Ibid, p, xix. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 137 

God the Word, the Son, &c, who was his instrument in the 
creation, and his substitute and representative afterwards in the 
appearances made to the patriarchs, and at the giving of the law 
to Moses, and was afterwards united to the man Christ Jesus."* 

Justin Martyr was a Platonic philosopher, an honest and zealous 
inquirer after truth. He embraced Christianity as a more excellent 
system of philosophy than that of Plato, but he wished to reconcile 
his new doctrine as nearly as possible to his former opinions. 
And some peculiarities in the phraseology both of the Jewish and 
Christian Scriptures being, as he imagined, favourable to his hypo- 
thesis, he easily persuaded himself that this hypothesis was true; 
and the rather, because the doctrine which he maintained exalted, 
as he thought, the person and the character of the founder of the 
Christian philosophy, and entirely effaced the reproach to which 
the Christian religion was exposed from the low birth, the humble 
circumstances, and the ignominious death of its author. This 
hypothesis he defends in a dialogue, real or fictitious, with one 
Trypho, a Jew, whom he introduces as declaring that his whole 
nation expected the Messiah to be a mere human being, brought 
into the world in the ordinary w r ay : and that " it was to them a 
thing unheard of, and the height of folly, to suppose him to have 
pre-existed before the ages as a God, and to have submitted after- 
wards to have been born and to become man/'f Justin, however, 
undertakes to prove the truth of the doctrine, w r hich to the Jewish 
nation appeared so extravagant. And to this end he appeals to 
their own Scriptures in a series of arguments which Mr. Lindsey 
has detailed, and w r hich have been borrowed from age to age by all 
who have adopted a similar opinion, viz. : That it is to the Son 
that God speaks when he says, " Let us make man that Christ 
was the Jehovah who appeared to Abraham ; and that he was the 
angel who spake to Moses in the burning bush, and who delivered 
the law from Mount Sinai. Nor does this Christian philosopher 
appeal either to the authority of Christ or his apostles for the 
truth of his doctrine or the correctness of his interpretation, but 

* Lindsey's Second Address, Introd. p. xx. 

f Justin Martyr, Opp. p. 143, Hi. Lindsey's Second Address, p. 153. 



138 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



without any hesitation he declares himself inspired to explain the 
Scriptures of the Old Testament, and expects his readers to believe 
it upon his own word. 

"I shall tell you plain fact/' says he, "without any art or 
embellishment of words, for which I have no talent. But it hath 
pleased God of his especial favour to impart to me the gift of 
understanding his Scriptures. And of this his grace to me I call 
all to partake freely and without reward, lest for not communicating 
so great a benefit to others I should myself be condemned in the 
judgment which the Creator of the world will exercise by our 
Lord Jesus Christ."* 

Mr. Lindsey upon this, with his usual candour and judgment, 
remarks, that a as Justin was a person of unquestioned probity, 
we cannot doubt of his sincerity in believing himself to have had 
an extraordinary insight into the Scriptures given him by the 
Almighty, though he most wretchedly imposed upon himself in it. 
His alleging that he himself was inspired is no proof to us of it ; 
and we can no more admit any new revelation from his own word 
without the stamp of divine authority, than we can pay respect to 
the waking dreams and revelations of Baron Swedenborg."f 

The Third Part of the work contains a copious catalogue of 
False Readings and Mistranslations in the English Bible which 
countenance the doctrine of the divinity of Christ ; in the room of 
which the learned writer substitutes those readings which are 
supported by the best authorities, and the translations which 

* Justin. Dialog, cum Tryphon, p. 154. Second Address, p. 176. 

+ Second Address, pp. 177, 178. Mr. Lindsey, in a note, mentions an anecdote 
which he had " received from a person of great worth and credit : that a friend of his 
several years ago walking with Baron Swedenborg along Cheapside, the baron suddenly 

owed very low down to the ground ; when the gentleman lifting him up and asking what 
he was about, the baron replied by asking him if he did not see Moses pass by, and told 
him that he had bowed to him." After this anecdote, one may easily admit that the 
baron himself was a sincere believer in his own doctrines and visions. But that any 
persons who are not in the same state of mind can be induced to give credit to his extra- 
vagant reveries, and to profess themselves his disciples, is a problem of very difficult 
solution. It is not, however, more wonderful than the confidence which has been 
placed of late years in the inspiration of Richard Brothers and Johanna Southcote, and 
that not only by persons of the lowest rank in society, but by men of sense and educa- 
tion. How lamentable is it that religion, which is the most rational thing in the 
world, should thus, by the errors and weaknesses of its friends and advocates, be brought 
into contempt and made the laughing-stock of unbelievers ! 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



139 



appear to him to be the most correct. This very valuable portion 
of his work was afterwards re-published in a separate pamphlet, in 
order to give it a more extensive circulation. 

In the First Part of this Second Address to the Youth of the 
two Universities, Mr. Lindsey introduces some curious and affecting 
passages from Dr. Watts's " Solemn Address to the Great and 
Ever-blessed God, on a Review of what he had written in the 
Trinitarian Controversy." It is well known that this learned and 
pious writer (who paid very great attention to the question), in 
the latter part of his life receded very far from those mystical 
opinions concerning the doctrine of the Trinity, and particularly 
the person of Christ, which he held in his youth. His well-known 
volume of Hymns and Spiritual Songs, so much used in Calvinistic 
congregations, was published when he was very young, and contains 
many expressions and many sentiments from which, though 
regarded by great numbers as the standard of Christian verity, 
his judgment revolted in maturer years, and which he would 
gladly have altered if he had been permitted by the proprietors of 
the copyright, who knew their own interest too well to admit the 
proposed improvements. 

His sentiments concerning the person of Christ were believed 
by many to approximate very nearly to those of the old Socinians. 
But it is not certain that Dr. Watts ever regarded himself as a 
Socinian. 

On the contrary, there can be little doubt that, owing to early 
prejudice, he would to the latest day of his life have started from 
the imputation with horror. How nearly soever his opinions might 
really approach to the Socinian scheme, possibly he himself appre- 
hended that he still kept at an inaccessible distance from them, by 
contending for a mystical personal union by which a true and 
proper deity was communicated to the human nature of Christ. 
Absurd as this supposition is in itself, and as it must be viewed by 
all unprejudiced minds, it did not appear in that light to Dr. 
Watts, nor to many others who, influenced by his authority, have 
since embraced the same strange hypothesis. He and they were 



140 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



serious believers in this modern notion, and have thought that they 
have discovered in it a salvo for their falling orthodoxy. And they 
have no doubt as good a right as others to retain and to defend 
their own system. Dr. Watts's latest opinions concerning the 
Trinity are supposed to have been contained in some papers pre- 
pared for the press, which were left to the discretion of Dr. Jennings 
and Dr. Doddridge, and which were committed to the flames (very 
much, as the author of this Memoir has been credibly informed, 
against the judgment and inclination of the latter), probably 
because it was suspected that they would give offence to the zealots 
of orthodoxy. At any rate, Dr. Watts's last sentiments concerning 
the person of Christ cannot, perhaps, now be absolutely ascer- 
tained ; but the feelings of his humble, pious, and inquisitive mind 
are beautifully exhibited in that devout Address to the Deity from 
which Mr. Lindsey has made some copious extracts, of which the 
following are an interesting specimen : — 

" Hadst thou informed me, gracious Father, in any place of thy 
word that this divine doctrine is not to be understood by men, and 
yet they were required to believe it, I would have subdued all my 
curiosity to faith. But I cannot find thou hast anywhere forbid 
me to understand it, or make these inquiries. I have, therefore, 
been long searching into this divine doctrine, that I may pay thee 
due honour with understanding. Surely I ought to know the God 
whom I worship, whether he be one pure and simple being, or 
whether thou art a threefold deity, consisting of the Father, the 
Son, and the Holy Spirit. 

" Thou hast called the poor and the ignorant, the mean and 
foolish things of this world, to the knowledge of thyself and thy 
Son. But how can such weak creatures ever take in so strange, 
so difficult, and so abstruse a doctrine as this, in the explication 
and defence whereof, multitudes of men, even men of learning and 
piety, have lost themselves in infinite subtilties of disputes and 
endless mazes of darkness ? And can this strange and perplexing 
notion of three real persons going to make up one true God be so 
necessary and so important a part of that Christian doctrine which, 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



141 



in the Old Testament and the New, is represented as so plain and 
easy even to the meanest understandings ?" # 

* See Mr. Lindsey's Second Address, pp. 5, 6. The extracts are taken from a work 
published in 1785, entitled, " The Life of the Rev. Isaac Watts, D.D., by Samuel 
Johnson, LLD., with Notes, containing Animadversions and Additions. 

The following extract from a letter written by the late Reverend and learned Samuel 
Merivale, of Exeter, to Dr. Priestley at Leeds, exhibits the most authentic account of 
Dr. Watts's last sentiments concerning the person of Christ ; from which it appears 
that, in Dr. Lardner's estimation, Dr. Watts became in the strict and proper sense of 
the word an Unitarian. 

"What I mentioned to Mr. Aikin" (the late Rev. Dr. Aikin, Professor of Divinity 
at Warrington) " concerning Dr. Watts, I had from Dr. Lardner, who told it me as a 
thing known to few, though without enjoining me secrecy. — Having mentioned in the 
course of my correspondence with the latter the difficulty of fixing my sentiments with 
regard to the person of Christ, though I had formerly thought the doctrine of his 
pre-existence sufficiently proved by Dr. Clarke, Dr. Watts, and others, he replies, ' I 
think Dr. Wat:s never was an Arian, to his honour be it spoken. When he first 
wrote of the Trinity, I reckoned he believed three equal divine persons. But in the 
latter part of his life, for several years before his death, and before he was seized with 
an imbecility of his faculties, he was an Unitarian. How he came to be so I cannot 
certainly say, but I think it was the result of his own meditations on the Scriptures. 
He was very desirous to promote that opinion, and wrote a great deal upon the sub- 
ject. But his papers fell into good hands (meaning Mr. Neal's), and they did not 
think them fit for publication. I also saw some of them.' 

" As there seemed some ambiguity in the word Unitarian, though I knew very 
well in how strict a sense the Doctor generally used it, and being aware that Dr. 
Watts in his later publications quite gave up the notion of a threefold Deity, though 
he contended earnestly for the pre-existence of Christ's human soul, originally possessed 
of powers superangelical, on which, however, he is silent in his Solemn Address to the 
Deity, printed in the quarto edition of his Works, I begged leave to be informed, 
whether in his unpublished papers he had appeared to have given up that point; in 
answer to which Dr. Lardner wrote : — 

" ' I question whether you have anywhere in print Dr. Watts's last thoughts upon 
the Trinity. They were known to very few. My nephew Neal, an understanding 
gentleman, was intimate with Dr. Watts, and often with the family where he lived. 
Sometimes in an evening when they were alone, he would talk to his friends in the 
family of his new thoughts concerning the person of Christ, and their great importance ; 
and that, if he should be able to recommend them to the world, it would be the most 
considerable thing that ever he performed. My nephew, therefore, came to me and 
told me of it, and that the family was greatly concerned to hear him talk so much of 
the importance of these sentiments. I told my nephew 7 that Dr. Watts was in the 
right in saying they were important, but I was of opinion that he was unable to 
recommend them to the public, because he had never been used to a proper way of 
reasoning on such a subject. So it proved. My nephew, being executor, had the 
papers, and showed me some of them. Dr. Watts had written a good deal, but they 
were not fit to be published. Dr. Watts's last thoughts were completely 
Unitarian.' " 

One cannot help regretting that such should have been the judgment of Dr. 
Lardner, and such the decision of the executors with respect to the publication of 
Dr. Watts's last essays upon a subject on which he had thought and written so much. 
The judgment of Dr. Doddridge, one of the trustees for Dr. Watts's papers, himself 
a professed Trinitarian, but a lover of truth and a friend to inquiry, was, as I have 
mentioned above, very different, and, as many think, more correct. How interesting 



142 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



Dr. Priestley, who was very sensible that his ardent spirit, his 
haste in writing, and his reluctance to revise and to correct, occa- 
sionally betrayed him into inaccuracy in his reasonings and some- 
times in his facts, and into an unguardedness of language of which 
his enemies were glad to avail themselves to the utmost, was ac- 
customed to submit his more important publications to the cooler 
judgment of his calm and prudent friend, and very frequently he 
yielded at discretion to every erasure or alteration which Mr. 
Lindsey recommended. But he was not always equally passive. 
Where he believed the cause of truth to be at stake, no advice of 
friends, no earnest expostulation, no serious representation of the 
offence which would be taken, or the supposed injury which might 
accrue to himself or to the cause, could deter the learned, zealous, 
and inflexible detector of the corruptions of Christianity from 
exhibiting what he believed to be important truth, and from 
exposing what he thought gross and pernicious error, in language 
the most direct and explicit, without giving himself the least 
concern about personal consequences, or the offence w T hich might 
be taken by the political supporters of corrupt systems or the 
partisans of orthodox creeds. 

And it is happy for the interest of rational Christianity that 
this intrepid champion cf truth had the resolution at times to 
persist in his own judgment, in opposition to the remonstrances 
of his less informed and more timid friends. In the year 1784, 
Dr. Priestley, then residing at Birmingham, resumed the Theo- 
logical Repository, a work which had been discontinued for 
upwards of twelve years, chiefly it should seem with a view to 
bring forward for open discussion some original ideas which he 
had long entertained concerning inspiration, the gradual formation 
and improvement of the character of Christ, and the history of 
the miraculous conception. These papers, as usual, he put into 
the hands of Mr. Lindsey for his perusal and correction. And it 
is amusing to see how anxious this venerable confessor, who had 

and instructive would it have been to have traced the mind of this great and good man 
through the various steps of his progress, frcm the darkest shades of error to the clear 
light of rational and evangelical truth ! 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



143 



exposed himself to so much hazard by the frank and unreserved 
avowal of the proper humanity of Jesus Christ, was to warn his 
friend, and to save him from the odium which he apprehended 
would accrue from pursuing this principle to its just consequences, 
which at anv rate could not be so obnoxious as the principle 
itself. For, if Jesus Christ be in truth one of the human race, 
can anything be more reasonable than to admit that his character, 
however exalted, was the result of the discipline through which he 
passed \ and that his inspiration, how superior soever to that of 
other prophets and messengers of God, did not extend beyond 
the purposes of his mission, and might leave him involved in the 
common misapprehensions of his contemporaries and countrymen 
upon physiological or philosophical subjects ? And as to the case 
of the miraculous conception, which is a mere insulated fact upon 
which no one important conclusion depends, it is surely a very fair 
question of historical research. 

These questions, however, were at that time quite new, and the 
discussion of them alarmed Mr. Lindsey lest it should be attended 
with ill consequences to his friend, by creating enemies, injuring 
his character, or impeding his usefulness. In a letter to Mr. 
Cappe, dated Dec. 2, 1784, in reference to the papers in the 
Theological Repository concerning the inspiration of Moses and 
of Christ, he adds : " He was so good as to send me the whole ; 
but I expressed myself so vehemently against the latter part, that 
he yielded to defer the publication in the first number, but I 
apprehend it will be brought forward in the next. 

" Concerning it I would first say, in general, that granting him 
to have proved his fact, that our Saviour was as much in the dark 
as the most vulgar among the Jews about possessions, and believed 
them in the gross literal sense ; and if also he was in ignorance of 
the Scriptures of the Old Testament and misapplied them : 

"Yet our friend has no call whatever to tell this to the world, 
because it would increase the prejudices of multitudes against him, 
and hinder others less indisposed from reading his works. 

" I do not, moreover, apprehend that the persuasion of Christ 
being an infallible teacher, and perfectly sinless, does now stand in 



144 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



the way of any one's embracing Christianity. If our friend had 
been pushed upon this point in the way of controversy, I should 
have said nothing against his delivering the sense of his own 
mind ; but as things now stand, to go on to attack a character held 
in such different universal estimation, unprovoked, seems to me 
likely to do harm and no good. 

" But still more will the outcry be increased against him, if it 
should appear that he has not proved his facts, and made good 
his accusation ; which may be reasonably questioned in some 
instances. And not only myself, but Dr. Jebb, and one other 
whom I have consulted, are persuaded that his chief argument 
fails him, when he would prove Christ's mistaken imperfect citation 
of the Old Testament similar to that of the rest of his country- 
men, from Luke xxiv. 27. 

" I own I am unwilling that he should let anything fall from 
his pen that might co-operate with the endeavours of many to 
prevent the reading of his works, which are so calculated to open 
the eyes of many, and have had and have that effect with all that 
can be brought to read them." 

These animadversions, which are tinged with something which 
appears more like asperity than was usual with Mr. Lindsey, prove 
at least, that if he was partial to the merits of his inquisitive and 
learned friend, he was not blind to his failings, and that he did 
not hastily adopt all his opinions. Nor was he deficient in that 
sure criterion of true and virtuous friendship, faithful reproof 
where he thought it needful ; for there can be no doubt that the 
sentiments which he here expresses to Mr. Cappe he had pre- 
viously expressed in language at least equally strong to Dr. 
Priestley himself. 

Yet, after all, it may be doubted whether the over-cautious 
spirit of the friendly monitor, and his anxious apprehension lest 
the uncommon boldness of his friend's remarks should swell the 
tide of popular prejudice against him, have not induced him to 
overcharge the picture. Dr. Priestley was as far as his friend 
could be from desiring to make an unprovoked attack upon the 
character of Christ. But holding the character of Jesus perhaps 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



145 



in as high estimation as Mr. Lindsey himself, he did not think it 
necessary to presume, nor did he find evidence to prove, that our 
Lord, being in all other respects a man like other men, was born 
into the world a perfect character, or that his character was 
miraculously superinduced. On the contrary, believing that 
Jesus was in all respects like unto his brethren, and pursuing his 
principles to their just consequences, he argued that our Saviour 
came into the world with the frailties and infirmities of a human 
being, moral as well as physical, and that, by the peculiar pro- 
cess of mental discipline to which he was subjected, he grew 
up to that consummate dignity and elevation of character under 
which he appears in the writings of the evangelists. And this 
truly Christian philosopher believed it to be not only a more 
rational way of accounting for the excellence of our Lord's 
character, and more agreeable to the language of the New Testa- 
ment, which represents him as growing in wisdom and in favour 
with God and man, but, in truth, more honourable to our Lord 
himself, that his perfect moral excellence should be the result of 
his own exertion, vigilance, and fortitude, rather than of a super- 
natural operation. And upon this supposition, the example of 
Jesus becomes far more interesting and efficacious than upon the 
common hypothesis. Dr. Priestley's doctrine was new and origi- 
nal, and at first very obnoxious and startling even to those who 
thought with him upon most subjects. And as his generous 
mind was above courting popularity, he took no pains to avoid 
offensive language in expressing his ideas : but in the present day, 
the alarm having subsided, and a cooler examination of the sub- 
ject having taken place, it would I believe be hard to find any 
considerate and consistent Unitarian who does not adopt Dr. 
Priestley's ideas concerning the formation of our Lord's moral 
character, and who does not rejoice that he did not yield to the 
prudent timidity of his worthy but less adventurous friends. Mr. 
Lindsey acknowledges to his learned correspondent that " he had 
not then paid much attention to the subject." Afterwards, when 
he reflected more deliberately upon it, there is reason to believe 

L 



146 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



that his alarm ceased, and that he became convinced that his 
difference with his friend was more nominal than real. 

Whether, as Dr. Priestley apprehends, our Lord was mistaken 
with respect to the cause of epilepsy and insanity, or whether, as 
Mr. Farmer maintains, knowing the falsehood of the popular 
opinion, he still thought fit, and indeed found it necessary, to use 
the popular language, is a more doubtful question than that 
concerning the natural perfection of our Lord's character. But 
surely it is a question highly worthy of public discussion among 
those who are desirous of obviating objections to the credibility 
of the New Testament. The language of Jesus to those who were 
believed to be possessed by demons, that is, by human ghosts, 
and especially in the case of the Gadarene demoniac, Luke viii., 
is hardly reconcilable to the simplicity and sincerity of our Lord's 
character, if he at the same time knew that the symptoms were 
occasioned by natural disorder, not by demoniacal possession ; 
nor can it be regarded as any objection to his prophetic authority, 
or to the reality of the miracle, that his inspiration did not extend 
to the knowledge of the nature and causes of the diseases which 
he was empowered to heal. On the contrary, it may be urged 
with great appearance of truth, that it cannot with any reason be 
admitted that our Lord was so grossly ignorant of the state of 
the dead, as to believe that the souls of bad men were permitted 
to enter into the bodies of living men and to torment them. 
Upon the whole, with the exception of the case of the Gadarene 
demoniac, it seems more easy to admit that our Lord used the 
popular language without adopting the popular philosophy, than 
to suppose him chargeable with such an egregious error upon a 
subject so closely connected with the proper object of his mission. 
The contrary hypothesis is, however, more generally adopted by 
those who inquire freely into the subject, as I believe I am 
warranted to say it certainly was by Mr. Lindsey, notwithstanding 
the alarm he expresses at his friend's insinuation, that " our 
Saviour was as much in the dark as the most vulgar among the 
Jews, about possessions ; and believed them in the gross literal 
sense/' 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS L1NDSEY. 



147 



That our Lord misunderstood and misapplied the prophecies of 
the Old Testament, relating to the Messiah, is a position main- 
tained by Dr. Priestley, which did not meet with the general 
concurrence of those who were disposed to think with him upon 
other subjects. Dr. Jebb and Mr. Lindsey had some reason to 
say that " here his main argument failed hiin." Our Lord so 
expressly asserts his knowledge of the true sense and application 
of the prophetic Scriptures ; he so frequently interprets, without 
the least hesitation, and with the highest tone of authority, those 
prophecies which relate to the Messiah ; he so gravely rebukes 
his disciples for not understanding what he had so plainly and 
repeatedly taught; and after his resurrection he so explicitly 
assumes an authority to " open their understandings that they 
might understand the Scriptures ;** that to deny to Jesus a power 
which he so directly challenges, looks like an attack upon his 
veracity, and is little less than charging him with vanity and 
arrogance. Nor are we by the necessity of the case driven to 
this conclusion. For it is not allowed that Dr. Priestley, though 
he has attempted it, as indeed his argument required, has suc- 
ceeded in any one instance in proving that our Lord has actually 
fallen into error, in his explanation and application of the pro- 
phetic Scriptures. This, however, is a fair and interesting topic 
of discussion ; and the friends of scriptural knowledge will rejoice 
to have the question set in a satisfactory light. 

Dr. Priestley, unawed by the remonstrances of his friends, and 
fearless of personal consequences in the pursuit of Christian truth, 
and in the detection and exposure of the corruptions of the 
Christian doctrine, or of the sacred text, and justly thinking that 
nothing would prove more favourable to the discovery of truth 
than fair and animated discussion, proceeded in his open and 
manly way, under the signature of Ebionita in the Theological 
Repository, to urge his objections against the narrative of the 
Miraculous Conception in the introductory chapters to the gospels 
of Matthew and Luke. This bold attack upon an article of faith 
which had maintained its ground undisputed for upwards of a 
thousand years, not only renewed the clamours of bigots against the 

l 2 



148 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



insolence and impiety of the hardy assailant, but excited consider- 
able apprehensions among many professed friends to free inquiry, 
who not only feared that the author's own reputation might suffer, 
and his writings be brought into discredit, and that his usefulness 
might thereby be greatly impeded, but that the credibility of the 
gospel history itself might be impeached, if so large a portion of 
it should be regarded as spurious. Nor were the apprehensions 
of any one upon this occasion more vivid than those of the vener- 
able subject of the present Memoir; who thus expresses his 
feelings and his fears, in confidence, to his learned and estimable 
friend, the Rev. Newcome Cappe, at York. 

April 30, 1785. "I wish some able hand would send him 
some remarks on his account of the miraculous conception; for 
no one I believe would sooner relinquish any opinion, was he 
made to see cause for it. A friend told me that he thought the 
doctor seemed moved, when he remarked to him that an extra- 
ordinary event of that kind might be most important in forming 
the character of Christ, by inducing his parents to pay particular 
attention to him in this respect, and by the early impressions it 
might make upon his own mind ; neither of which had occurred 
to him. However, whether he or any one retains or rejects the 
notion, is of little consequence. A man may be most fully per- 
suaded that Jesus is the Christ, whether he holds him as the son 
of Mary, or of Joseph also. Only I have much wished Dr. 
Priestley could restrain himself from appearing the patron of the 
latter opinion, lest it might hurt his usefulness in preventing the 
reading of his many valuable theological writings." 

These are the natural and liberal reflections of Mr. Lindsey's 
candid mind upon the first proposal of the subject. But his own 
correct feelings appear to have been in some degree aggravated, 
and, if I may so express it, acidified, by the less candid observa- 
tions which he occasionally heard from others. He thus expresses 
himself in a letter to his friend at York, dated December 8, 
1785: 

"I am exceedingly gratified by your leaving your letter to 
Dr. Priestley unsealed, and permitting me the perusal of it. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



149 



When you but barely intimated your sentiment at York, but now 
much more from your further enlargement upon it, I think 1 see 
a new light thrown upon our Saviour's language and manner of 
address to Almighty God throughout the gospels, though I have 
not considered yet at all, how the idea of his extraordinary birth 
at times pervades the language of his apostles concerning him. I 
shall, however, most earnestly long for your full discussion of the 
subject, and I hope it will please Providence that nothing will 
prevent your going on to finish this disquisition in the manner in 
which you have planned it. 1 do not, however, imagine, as you 
formerly expressed yourself, that the suggestion of any argument 
of this kind will have such an effect on our friend as to work any 
change in his sentiments ; though I hope, if he attends to it, as 
I trust he will, the remarks on Ebionita pointing out so many 
mistakes, and several less fair (however undesigned) methods of 
application to his readers, will prevent him exhibiting his opinion 
in such a disgusting form, and with so wrong a spirit, in his 
greater work now printing. 

" Besides the ardour of his own natural temper, I am sure that 
he has been hurried on further than that would have carried his 
judicious mind, by the vehemence of some persons about him, so 
as to look upon the miraculous conception as one of the great 
corruptions of Christianity. So that he set out without weighing 
the consequences ; and as his method of treating the subject did 
not affect himself nor disturb him, he thought it would be the 
same with others. And having happily got over the outcries 
raised against him on other like points, as he conceived, he 
believed it would be the same here. I will, however, entertain 
hope that your most candid but strong manner, at the conclusion 
of your letter, of representing to him your own and the opinions 
of others concerning his treating the subject, will prevail with him 
to treat the matter with a better temper, as not a day passes but 
I meet with one or other friends that earnestly wish it for his 
own, and for the truth's sake." 

Dr. Priestley, in his essay upon the Miraculous Conception, in 
the Repository, expresses his sentiments upon this subject, as 



150 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



upon all others, unequivocally, and without disguise; and certainly, 
though not with the intention to give offence, yet without any 
precaution to guard against it. But surely his language, and his 
manner of treating the subject, hardly deserve the severe censure 
of making " unfair applications to his readers, and of exhibiting 
his opinion in a disgusting form, and with a wrong spirit/' In 
an argument so novel, the prejudices of some would undoubtedly 
be shocked. But there were many who, though not converted to 
his opinion, were by no means offended with the argument or the 
spirit of the writer, but rather admired the ingenuity which could 
give plausibility to an hypothesis in their apprehension so un- 
founded, and so inconsistent with what they judged to be the 
plain declaration of the New Testament. Such was unquestion- 
ably the first impression upon the ingenuous mind of Mr. Lindsey; 
and nothing but a too great facility in yielding his own judgment 
to that of his friends, could have induced him to think and to 
express himself with such unusual asperity upon the temper 
and spirit of his honest and able fellow-labourer in the field of 
truth. 

It is, however, of more consequence to remark, how widely 
Mr. Lindsey differed from his inquisitive friend upon the subject 
of the miraculous conception, and how unlikely he was at that 
time ever to be reconciled to his sentiments. But an upright 
inquirer will never think it too late to learn, and will be always 
ready to embrace doctrines the most opposite to his pre- 
conceived opinions, if after mature examination he sees reason 
to believe that they are founded in truth. Such was the character 
of the venerable subject of this Memoir; and in the following 
extract from a letter to his friend Mr. Cappe, he expresses himself 
in a more hesitating tone. 

April 10, 1787. " I am much concerned to find you have 
such a multiplicity of business and of avocations ; but I hope 
you will steal time to give us your arguments for the miraculous 
conception, which I have not hitherto seen any cause to give up, 
though some inconsistencies with which the evidence for it is 
encumbered have disturbed me a little ; and I should be happy to 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



151 



see your further positive scriptural proofs for it made out at full 
length." In a letter dated nine months before, in July, 1786, 
Mr. Lindsey had importunately urged the same request : " I can- 
not conclude without entreating you, my most worthy friend, to 
give us, and give the public, your valuable thoughts on the 
miraculous conception. If Dr. Jebb had been alive, he would 
have joined with me, and would have told you it was a duty for 
you to do it. He had not attended much to the argument ; but he 
had no doubt about the fact, or the genuineness of those scrip- 
tures which relate to it, any more than you have. Adieu. But 
I beg you will think of this seriously and in earnest." 

Notwithstanding, however, these repeated and urgent calls, the 
oracle remained silent. Whatever might be the reason, whether, 
upon further inquiry, he found that, when he first promised the 
answer, like his precursor Dr. Jebb, he had not attended much to 
the argument, or from some other unknown cause, this truly 
learned and acute theologian, who was looked up to as the only 
person competent to advocate the sinking cause of the suspected 
narrative, declined to enter the lists,* and the historian and 
detector of the corruptions of Christianity was left the undisputed 
master of the field. His venerable friend, thus deserted by his 
principal ally, after a few more ineffectual struggles, found himself 
compelled, by the power of truth and the irresistible force of 
argument, to lay down his arms and surrender at discretion; 
and, like the man of Tarsus, to become the champion of the 
faith which he once disapproved. In other words, Mr. Lindsey, 
upon further consideration of the subject, and seeing no satis- 
factory reply to his friend's arguments, gave up, though not 
without some reluctance, his belief in the miraculous conception : 
and in the next edition of his Liturgy, in the year 1789, he 

* Mr. Cappe's first remarks upon Dr. Priestley were published in the fifth volume oi 
the Theological Repository, under the signature of Nazaraeus. The principal object was 
to prove that the miracle, though in its own nature necessarily private might neverthe- 
less have its use. Dr. Priestley in the same volume adverts to this objection, in a paper 
signed Nazarenus. Whether Mr. Cappe, like his ingenuous correspondent, ever aban- 
doned the miraculous conception, does not appear from any of his posthumous publica- 
tions. The "Connected History of the Life of Christ/' published by his excellent 
widow, leaves the fact in a state of considerable doubt. 



152 MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 

omitted that creed erroneously called the Creed of the Apostles, 
which contains this unscriptural article. 

This doctrine, that Jesus of Nazareth, the great prophet of the 
Most High, was the son of Joseph and Mary, which was so 
alarming when it was first asserted by Dr. Priestley, is now per- 
fectly familiarized, and is, I believe, generally received by those 
who maintain the proper humanity of Jesus Christ. Indeed the 
direct assertion of Luke, which can by no fair and legitimate 
criticism be set aside, that our Lord had just completed his 
thirtieth year,* in the fifteenth year of Tiberius, fixes the birth of 
Christ at least two years after Herod's death. This single un- 
deniable chronological fact at once invalidates the introductory 
narrative to Matthew and Luke. And the uselessness of the 
train of splendid miracles there recorded; the very little attention 
which they excited to the object of them ; the apparent fabulous- 
ness of many of the circumstances ; the irrelevance, not to say the 
absurdity, of the quotations from the Old Testament; the incon- 
sistency of the two narratives with each other; the entire omission 
of the whole transaction by Mark and John ; the want of the 
introduction to Matthew in the Ebionite copies, and to Luke in 
those of Marcion ; the rejection of the miracuious conception by 
the Gnostics, with whose system it would so well have harmonized, 
and by the Ebionites or Jewish Christians, whose history supplied 
so many prior accounts of miraculous births; the prevailing 
desire of Christians to aggrandize their Master, and in every pos- 
sible way to diminish the disgrace of his extraction and the 
reproach of his cross; and, in fine, the general credit given to 
the narrative in distant countries, and the discredit under which it 
laboured in those regions which are represented as the very scenes 
of these extraordinary events; all concur to establish the con- 
clusion, that the introductory narratives to Matthew and Luke 
were not written by the evangelists to whom they are ascribed. 
By whom they were written, and at what time they were prefixed 
to their respective histories, it may not be easy to ascertain ; but 

, * A^fl^«i m trw rpiaxdvroc, est incipio jam esse triceiiarius, quod non dicitur 
nisi post impletum annum tricessimum. — Grotius. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 153 

as we are certain, from the date of Luke's history, that the facts 
cannot be true, we may be equally certain that they could not 
have been related by the apostle of Jesus, or the faithful and 
accurate companion of Paul. 



CHAPTER IX. 

UNITARIAN LITURGY ADOPTED BY THE CONGREGATION AT THE 
KING'S CHAPEL AT BOSTON IN NEW ENGLAND. MR. LINDSEY 
CORRESPONDS WITH DR. FREEMAN, MR. VANDERKEMP, ETC. 
PROGRESS AND PRESENT STATE OF THE UNITARIAN CHURCHES 
IN AMERICA. 

The grand theological controversies which excited so much atten- 
tion, and were conducted with so much animosity, in England, 
could not fail to attract notice in America, and especially in the 
New England States, where a manliness of character, a decency 
of morals, and a serious though not universally enlightened spirit 
of piety, dispose the minds of considerable numbers to religious 
inquiries, and where freedom of investigation suffers no restraint 
from the civil power. It was with great pleasure that Mr. Lindsey 
received information in the year 1786, from a respectable corre- 
spondent (the Rev. J. Smith, afterwards Librarian to the University 
of Cambridge in New England), that the principal Episcopalian 
church in Boston had consented to the introduction of a Liturgy 
reformed nearly upon the plan of that which had been adopted in 
Essex Street, and perfectly Unitarian.* The minister of this 

* In Mr. Freeman's first letter to Mr. Lindsey, dated July 7, 1786, he tells his 
yenerable correspondent, " The Liturgy of our church was during a long time unpopular. 
But your approbation, the note of Dr. Price annexed to a letter of Dr. Lush, and the 
mention which Dr. Priestley is pleased to make of it in his sermon upon the fifth of 



154 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



congregation, which assembled at what was called the King's 
Chapel, was the Rev. James Freeman, and is described by his 
friend as ee a young man of a great deal of knowledge and good 
sense, and of an excellent disposition." Some of his hearers left 
him on account of the change introduced into the service ; but the 
majority adhered to him, and the congregation flourished under 
him. He was for some time under considerable embarrassment 
for want of episcopal ordination, upon which some of his hearers 
laid much stress, though in the estimation of the more judicious 
members of his congregation, as well as of Mr. Freeman himself, 
it was rather a matter of expedience than necessity. To avoid, 
however, giving unnecessary offence, he applied for orders first to 
Bishop Seabury, who had lately been consecrated by the non-juring 

November, have raised it in esteem. It now seems to be acknowledged that that book 
cannot be very absurd which is praised by gentlemen of such great learning and 
abilities, who have been so long known and so justly admired in this country. I 
wish the work was more worthy of your approbation. I can only say that I endea- 
voured to make it so by attempting to introduce your Liturgy entire. But the people of 
the chapel were not ripe for so great a change. Some defects and improprieties I was 
under the necessity of retaining, for the sake of inducing them to omit the most excep- 
tionable parts of the old service, the Athanasian prayers. Perhaps in some future day, 
when their minds become more enlightened, they may consent to a further alter- 
ation." 

The writer of this Memoir is happy to add, that the day of increased light and 
liberality, foretold by this enlightened reformer, is now arrived, and that Dr. Freeman 
has himself lived to see his own prediction verified, In a new edition of the Boston 
Liturgy, printed in the year 1811, a copy of which the writer has had the honour to 
receive as a present from the ministers, wardens, and vestry of the King's Chapel, 
nothing is to be found which is inconsistent with the purest principles of Unitarian 
worship as such, and with a very few alterations, chiefly verbal, it might be made 
perfectly unobjectionable. May it long be the efficacious means of supporting the 
purity and simplicity of Christian worship, and diffusing a spirit of rational piety ! 

Mr. Freeman further proceeds to state the progress which Unitarian principles were 
making in the United States, and particularly in New England. This he imputes to 
the many excellent books published in England, and to Mr. Lindsey's works in 
particular, which were much read and with great effect. The sermons and conversation 
of some clergymen in New England also contributed their share ; and amongst these he 
mentions the Rev. Mr. Hazlitt, a pious, zealous, and intelligent English minister, who 
after his return to England settled at Wem, in Shropshire. Mr. Freeman speaks of 
himself as particularly indebted to the instructions and conversation of this respectable 
person. "J bless the day," says he, " when that honest man first landed in this 
country." In another letter, dated June, 1789, Mr. Freeman writes, " Before Mr. 
Hazlitt came to Boston, the Trinitarian doxology was almost universally used. That 
honest, good man prevailed upon several respectable ministers to omit it. Since his 
departure, the number of those who repeat only scriptural doxologies has greatly 
increased, so that there are now many churches in which the worship is strictly 
Unitarian." 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



155 



bishops of Scotland, and who exercised his jurisdiction over the 
episcopal churches in Connecticut. But this prelate, being a rigid 
Calvinist, would not lay hands upon his suspected brother. Appli- 
cation was then made to Dr. Provost, who had been elected bishop 
of the province of New York, and who, together with Dr. White, 
had been consecrated to the episcopal office by the prelates of the 
Church of England. This gentleman, who had been a pupil of 
Dr. Jebb, was a man of great learning, of liberal sentiments, and 
of deep piety. At the Convention of the Episcopal clergy at 
Philadelphia, he had himself proposed a very important alteration 
in the Litany, viz., to leave out the invocations to the Son, the 
Holy Ghost, and the Trinity ; and to retain only the first, which 
is addressed "to God the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven 
and earth/'' To this worthy prelate, therefore, the members of the 
congregation at the King's Chapel repeatedly applied to obtain 
episcopal ordination for their respected minister. But the bishop, 
perhaps unwilling to give offence to his weaker "brethren, referred 
the matter to the next'Convention at Philadelphia; which deter- 
mined Mr. Freeman's friends, who had reason to apprehend that, 
whatever might be the information and liberality of some indivi- 
duals, the majority would decide against him, to ordain their own 
pastor at home. This solemn rite, therefore, was performed, with 
the previous approbation of many persons of high character and 
worth who had been consulted upon the occasion, on Sunday, the 
18th of November, 1787, according to a form suggested by 
Governor Bowdoin, a gentleman whose learning, good sense, and 
merit, as Mr. Freeman expresses it in his letter to Mr. Lindsey, 
" would give a sanction to any sentiment which he espouses," 
though the honourable Governor was not a member of the King's 
Chapel congregation. c< The whole ceremony/' says Mr. Freeman, 
" was performed with great decency and solemnity in the presence 
of a very numerous assembly. Deep attention was impressed upon 
every countenance, and many of the advocates for religious liberty, 
of our own and other churches, could not forbear expressing their 
sensibility by tears of joy." The form used upon this interesting 
occasion is published by Mr. Lindsey in his Vindiciae Priestleianse, 



156 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



who there expresses his entire approbation of it. All difficulties 
were at length surmounted : the remaining scruples of those who 
were advocates for episcopal ordination gradually subsided,* and 
the cause of the congregation continued to flourish under the 
auspices of this pious and exemplary preacher for upwards of 
twenty years. Since January, 1809, Mr. (now Dr.) Freeman has 
been associated with a colleague, the Reverend Samuel Cary, who, 
if we may judge by the specimen of his talents and spirit in the 
sermon which he delivered on the day of his ordination, and by the 
esteem and affection expressed in the charge of his revered asso- 
ciate, is worthy of the honourable situation which he occupies, and 

* In tenderness to the prejudices of some worthy members of the congregation, a vote 
was passed by the society, that Mr. Freeman's ordination should be confirmed by an 
episcopal imposition of hands, if it could be at any future time conveniently procured 
without sacrificing their own religious sentiments. But a circumstance occurred 
shortly afterwards which contributed more effectually to overrule the scruples of those 
who were unsatisfied, than anything which Mr. Freeman or his friends could say or 
write upon the subject. This was the ordination of a clergyman at Boston, by Bishop 
Seabury. 

' ' If any prejudices remained upon the minds of my people in favour of episcopal 
ordination," says Mr. Freeman in a letter to Mr. Lindsey, dated October 15, 1788, 
' 'what you say in your book, the Vindicise Priestleianse, would effectually remove 
them. But they are already cured of all prepossessions of that nature. I mentioned 
in a former letter that Bishop Seabury had ordained a priest in Boston. The members 
of my congregation in general attended. They were so shocked with the service, 
particularly with that part where the bishop pretends to communicate the Holy Gfhost 
and the power of forgiving sins, which he accompanied with the action of breathing on 
the candidate, that they now congratulate me upon having escaped what they consider 
as little short of blasphemy. Few of them had ever read, or at least attentively 
considered, the Ordination service. Since they have heard it, I have frequently been 
seriously asked by them, whether I would have submitted to so absurd a form. I 
confess that I am convinced I should have acted wrong if I had done it. I shudder 
when I reflect to what moral danger I exposed myself in soliciting ordination of the 
American bishops, for I certainly never believed that they had the power of conveying 
the Holy Spirit." 

Bishop Seabury might be, and probably was, a very honest man. How far his 
wisdom kept pace with his honesty, the following anecdote may assist the reader to 
judge. This venerable prelate, after having been invested, or imagined himself to be 
invested, with extraordinary powers by the manual imposition of a few obscure priests 
in Scotland, when he had returned to Connecticut, wrote to Dr, Styles, the president of 
the college, the learned friend and correspondent of Dr. Price, that it was his 
intention to be at the annual meeting of the Institution, but that he " hoped he 
should be received with proper distinction, and that his precedency would be allowed 
in the place allotted to him." To which the learned president sent back a courteous 
answer : " That they should be very glad to see Bishop Seabury, but that he could 
not promise him any such mark of distinction as he expected. One thing, however, he 
could engage for, and would assure him of, that he would meet with a hundred and 
ninety-one as good bishops as himself.' ' 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



157 



is well qualified to cany on the cause in which his excellent 
colleague has been so long and so successfully engaged. May 
this holy cause continue to prosper in their hands, and when 
the chief Shepherd shall appear may they receive a crown of 
glory !* 

As a further means of diffusing the important doctrines of the 
proper Unity of God, and the simple humanity of Jesus Christ, 
Mr. Lindsey made a present of his own and of Dr. Priestley's 
Theological V\ T orks to the library of Harvard College, in the 
University of Cambridge in New England ; for which, " as a very 
valuable and acceptable present/' he received the thanks of the 
President and Fellows. These books were read with great avidity 
by the students. But though there is great reason to believe 
that the seed thus sown took deep root, and that in many instances 
it produced a correspondent harvest ; and though many persons 
eminent for rank and talent in the New England States f openly 
avowed the Unitarian creed, it does not appear that any numerous 
societies of Christians have hitherto followed the example of the 
congregation at the King's Chapel in making a public profession 
of the Unitarian doctrine. 

* This sincere and ardent wish it was not the will of Providence to ratify. Mr. 
Cary's connection with his affectionate flock and his revered colleague was of very short 
duration. In the autumn of 1815, he fell into a deep decline from a neglected cold ; 
and being advised to try a milder climate, he came to England with his wife in 
October. For a few days he appeared a little revived ; but the disorder soon returned 
with increased violence, and on Sunday, October 22, he expired at Royston, on his 
road to London, in the thirtieth year of his age. He was interred in the burial- 
ground belonging to the Unitarian chapel, at Hackney, and the service, by his 
particular desire, was performed by the minister of Essex-Street chapel, who delivered 
a discourse upon the melancholy occasion upon the next Lord's-day. Mrs. Cary, 
whose Christian fortitude and pious resignation under this severe trial was the 
admiration of all her friends, returned to Boston in the spring. The removal of such a 
person as Mr. Cary, in the prime of life, and in the midst of usefulness, is one of the 
unsearchable mysteries of Divine Providence. 

f " Governor Bowdoin," says Mr. Lindsey's worthy correspondent, is a critic in 
biblical learning. General Knox, one of the most distinguished officers in the late 
war, is an admirer of such authors as Edward Search. General Lincoln, our present 
worthy Lieutenant-governor, appears uniformly and openly the friend of those 
doctrines that you approve. There are many others, besides, in our legislature, of 
similar sentiments. While so many of our great men are thus on the side of truth and 
free inquiry, they will necessarily influence many of the common people. As we have 
no establishment to oppose, the same zeal which is felt in England cannot be expected 
in this country ; but rational Christianity will, I doubt not, make a rapid, though not 
very visible progress." This letter was written in 1788. 



158 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



In March, 1792, an Unitarian congregation was formed at 
Portland, a considerable town of the district of Maine, in the 
north-eastern part of the State of Massachusetts. The worthy- 
founder of this society was the Reverend Thomas Oxnard, a man 
of good talents, of sincere piety, and of ardent zeal, who had for 
some years officiated as minister of the episcopalian church at 
Portland, and who had been convinced of the truth of the 
Unitarian doctrine by reading the works of Dr. Priestley and 
Mr. Lindsey, with which he had been supplied by his friend 
Mr. Preeman. Through the same means, and by the public and 
private instructions of this good man, in the course of a few years, 
many other persons of property and respectability of character 
embraced and avowed the same principles. "I cannot," says 
this worthy man, in a letter dated November, 1788, " express to 
you the avidity with which these Unitarian publications are sought 
after. Our friends here are clearly convinced that the Unitarian 
doctrine will soon become the prevailing opinion in this country ; 
which must afford great pleasure to those good men Mr. Lindsey 
and Dr. Priestley. Three years ago I did not know a single 
Unitarian in this part of the country besides myself : and now, 
entirely from the various publications you have furnished, a 
decent society might be collected from this and the neighbouring 
towns. When you again write to Mr. Lindsey, you may assure 
him in the most positive terms that his and Dr. Priestley's 
publications have had, and probably will have, great effects in 
this part of the country ; which I am sure must afford him great 
satisfaction." 

Agreeably to this account, the doctrine of the proper Unity of 
God made a progress so rapid in the town and vicinage of Port- 
land, that in the beginning of the year 1792, an effort was made 
to introduce a reformed Liturgy into the episcopal church ; which 
being resisted by one or two leading members of the congregation, 
the Unitarians, who constituted a considerable majority of the 
society, seceded from the rest; and forming themselves into a 
separate church, they chose the Reverend Mr. Oxnard to be their 
minister ; and being denied the use of the episcopal chapel, they 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



159 



assembled for religious worship at one of the public school-houses 
which was large and commodious, and where they carried on the 
worship of the One God with increasing popularity and success. 

About the same time another society for Unitarian worship was 
formed at Saco, a populous village about twenty miles distant 
from Portland, under the auspices of Mr. Thatcher, a gentleman 
of considerable property and of excellent character, who was 
repeatedly returned as representative in Congress for the northern 
district of the State of Massachusetts. Mr. Thatcher, it is said, 
was originally an unbeliever ; but possessing a candid and in- 
quisitive mind, he became a very sincere and rational Christian in 
consequence of reading Dr. Priestley's works; and, as Mr. 
Lindsey's correspondent expresses it, u the influence of our divine 
religion became very evident in his life and manners." This 
gentleman, by his conversation, his occasional publications, by 
lending Unitarian books, and by the great influence of his moral 
and religious character, contributed much to diffuse rational and 
pure Christianity in the vicinity of his residence, and formed at 
Saco a congregation of Unitarian Christians which was for some 
time connected with that at Portland, but afterwards became 
sufficiently numerous and respectable to maintain a separate 
minister. In England the spirit of the times is more liberal than 
the spirit of the laws. In America it is the reverse; and the 
bigotry of individuals sometimes labours to counteract the un- 
limited freedom of faith and worship, which is the glory of the 
Constitution of the United States. The active zeal of Mr. 
Thatcher, in promoting the worship of One God in opposition to 
un scriptural formularies and creeds, excited the malignant efforts 
of some of his bigoted neighbours to oppose his re-election to a 
seat in Congress. But the high character, the approved patriotism, 
and the distinguished talents of that honourable gentleman secured 
him an easy triumph over the mean attacks of ignorance and envy, 
and he was again returned by a great majority. 

Upon the formation of the first Unitarian society in the district 
of Maine, Mr. Lindsey's intelligent correspondent makes the 



160 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



following just and important observations, in a letter dated May 
21, 1792:— 

et I consider the establishment of this society as an event pecu- 
liarly favourable to the progress of Unitarianism in this country. 
The eastern division of this State, commonly called the province 
of Maine, of which Portland is the capital, is one of the most 
flourishing parts of the United States. It is rapidly increasing 
in population and in wealth. Portland, which under the name of 
Falmouth was almost totally destroyed during the last war, has 
now become a large and respectable town, and bids fair in the 
course of half a century to rival Boston. Like other capital 
towns, it will probably influence the opinions of the surrounding 
country. It may be expected, therefore, that Unitarianism will 
grow with its growth, and be widely diffused. What favours this 
expectation is, that one of the ministers of the town, a very 
liberal and enlightened man, is upon very good terms with the 
Unitarian society, and not disposed to discountenance them. 
In sentiment he professes to be a Sabellian. The other ministers 
in the neighbourhood are in general ignorant, and some of them 
vicious. The consequence is, that there is less appearance of 
religion in the province of Maine than in any other part of New 
England. I have no doubt, therefore, that a number of Unitarians 
possessing that purity of morals for which they are generally 
distinguished will have a great effect, not only in diffusing rational 
sentiments, but also in reforming the practice of their fellow- 
citizens. I give this not merely as my own opinion, but as the 
opinion of some gentlemen who are best informed in the State of 
the province of Maine. The establishment of a rational Christian 
society, and the happy changes which are to be expected in future, 
must, sir, in a great measure be ascribed to the books which you 
have sent over. What, therefore, must be your triumph when 
you reflect that you have enlightened the minds of your fellow- 
christians, and that you will probably be the means of turning 
many to righteousness ! " 

How far this worthy and ardent correspondent of Mr. Lindsey 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



161 



was warranted in the sanguine expectations lie expresses of the 
success and beneficial effects of the Unitarian doctrine in the 
New England States, does not very distinctly appear. In 1788, 
he states to his venerable friend, that the Socinian scheme is less 
frightful than it was some years ago, and begins to have some 
public advocates. The only minister, however, who then preached 
in favour of it was Mr. Bentley, of Salem, a fellow-collegian and 
intimate friend of the writer, who describes him as " a young 
man of a bold independent mind, of strong natural powers, and 
of more skill in the learned languages than any person of his 
years in the State. M This gentleman had the good fortune to be 
connected with a congregation uncommonly liberal, who were not 
alarmed at any improvements, and who were pleased with the 
introduction of Bishop Lowth's translation of Isaiah, and of other 
improved translations of the prophetic Scriptures, in preference 
to the common English version, which was a liberty that few of 
the ministers in New England would be allowed to take. In 
1 793, Unitarianism remained at Portland in the state in which it 
had been settled the preceding year : but the clergy in the neigh- 
bourhood of Saco having passed a censure upon these opinions as 
unsound and heretical, the consequence of this attack was an able 
defence of the doctrine by its advocates in that vicinage, and a 
subscription for building an Unitarian church. In the year 1794, 
the same respectable correspondent communicates to his venerable 
friend the progress which the doctrine and worship of the One 
true God, the Father, were making in the southern districts of the 
State of Massachusetts. " The counties of Plymouth, Barnstable, 
and Bristol, were the first part of New England settled by the 
English ; and till the year 1692, when they were annexed to 
Massachusetts, constituted a distinct province. The first settlers 
were a religious and industrious people, of more candid minds 
and less disposed to persecution than the settlers of Massachusetts. 
Though the country is barren, yet it has become one of the most 
populous districts of the United States. The inhabitants are 
enlightened and virtuous. Crimes are unknown ; and there has 
not been a capital execution for upwards of sixty years. Such 

M 



162 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



characters are valuable acquisitions to the cause of truth. It must 
give you pleasure, therefore, to learn that two ministers, one in 
the county of Plymouth, and the other in the county of Barnstable, 
have lately come forward and openly opposed the doctrine of the 
Trinity. Their preaching has made a deep impression, and converts 
have been multiplied. In Barnstable county in particular, there 
is a very large body of Unitarians.-" 

This letter was written not long after the worthy writer had 
received intelligence of Mr. Lindsey's resignation of the pastoral 
office, on account, not of declining health, but of advanced age ; 
and I cannot deny myself the gratification of transcribing Dr. 
Freeman's excellent and judicious reflections upon that occasion : 
" I fervently pray, dear sir, that your health may long be preserved, 
and that your old age may be as happy as the meridian of your 
life has been active and useful. You now enjoy the fruits of your 
labours. You have reclaimed many from the errors of idolatry 
and superstition. You have diffused knowledge and truth, not 
only in England, but in America. But what is most to your 
honour, though you have displayed all the zeal of a reformer, yet 
you have possessed none of that bitterness of spirit with which 
reformers are too often infected. In your numerous w r orks I find 
no harsh expressions or malignant censures. I contemplate this 
part of your character with peculiar pleasure ; and though I am 
conscious I am frequently more angry with error and bigotry than 
a Christian ought to be, yet I ardently desire to imitate your 
candour and mildness of temper. Excuse this praise ; it is 
suggested to me by your two last excellent discourses/' This is a 
high and at the same time a discriminating and justly merited 
eulogy, and must no doubt have been gratifying to the venerable 
person to whom it was addressed, whose great humility would, 
however, lead him to disclaim, in part at least, his title to it. 

In a letter dated May 24, 1796, the amiable and candid writer 
expresses some little doubt whether his zeal may not have induced 
him inadvertently to exaggerate the success of Unitarian principles 
in the United States ; and he endeavours to give a correct account 
of the actual state of the public mind upon this subject. As this 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



163 



is the last of Dr. Freeman's letters upon the state of Unitarianism 
in America which is in my possession, and as it contains a more 
general view of the case than he had before exhibited, I shall make 
no apology for the length of the extract : — - 

" I consider it/' says this intelligent correspondent to his 
venerable friend, " as one of the most happy effects which have 
resulted from my feeble exertions in the Unitarian cause, that they 
have introduced me to the knowledge and friendship of some of 
the most valuable characters of the present age ; men of en- 
lightened heads, of pious and benevolent hearts ; ' quibuscum 
vivere amem, quibuscum obire libens/ 

"Though it is a standing article of most of our social libraries, 
that nothing of a controversial nature should be purchased, yet 
any book which is presented is freely accepted. I have found 
means, therefore, of introducing into them some of the Unitarian 
tracts with which you have kindly furnished me. There are few 
persons who have not read them with avidity; and when read, they 
cannot fail to make an impression upon the minds of many. From 
these and other causes, the Unitarian doctrine appears to be 
still upon the increase. I am acquainted with a number of 
ministers, particularly in the southern part of this State, who avow 
and publicly preach this sentiment. There are others more 
cautious, who content themselves with leading their hearers by a 
course of rational but prudent sermons gradually and insensibly 
to embrace it. Though this latter mode is not what I entirely 
approve, yet it produces good effects. For the people are thus 
kept out of the reach of false opinions, and are prepared for the 
impressions which will be made on them by more bold and ardent 
successors, who will probably be raised up when these timid 
characters are removed off the stage. In the eastern part of this 
State, or what is called the district of Maine, the Unitarian 
doctrine also makes progress, as I have just been informed by 
a worthy and judicious minister from that quarter. The clergy 
are generally the first who begin to speculate : but the people 
soon follow, where they are so much accustomed to read and in- 
quire. 

m 2 



164 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



" In the accounts vvhieh I give you of the state of religions 
opinions in this country, I always endeavour not to exaggerate, 
sensible that every zealous man (and I confess that I am zealous) 
is naturally disposed to rate his own party as highly as he can. It 
is possible that Unitarianism may be losing ground in one quarter 
while it is gaining it in another, and that I may not perceive 
or may not attend to the former. Indeed, I confess and lament 
that the opinion is scarcely known in the largest part of this 
vast republic. It flourishes chiefly in New England ; but not 
much in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and the 
western counties of Massachusetts, A few seeds have been 
sown in Vermont, and an abundant harvest has been produced 
in the vicinity of Boston and the counties directly south of it. 
In Pennsylvania much may be expected from the labours of Dr. 
Priestley/ 5 

It was in the year 1796 that this letter w T as written ; and though 
it cannot reasonably be doubted that the important doctrines 
of the unrivalled supremacy and sole worship of the Father, and 
of the proper humanity of Jesus Christ, have since that time 
been gradually advancing in a country so favourable to freedom of 
inquiry; yet it may justly be questioned whether the progress 
of truth has been quite so rapid, visible, or extensive, as the zeal of 
this ingenuous and ardent lover of truth prompted him to expect. 
Dr. Priestley's personal ministry in the United States was attended 
with very little apparent success. In Northumberland, where 
he resided, he collected but few proselytes \ and in Philadelphia, 
where the chapel in which he preached was at first crow T ded with the 
principal characters in the United States, he was afterwards for 
some reason or other almost deserted. Yet here his labours were 
not wholly ineffectual. Since Dr. Priestley's decease, a small but 
highly respectable congregation has been formed, in which, till 
a regular minister can be procured, a few of the most intelligent 
and best informed members conduct the service by turns; and the 
society, upon the whole, is increasing, though some who once 
professed zeal in the cause have turned their backs upon it. 
The Unitarians in Philadelphia have erected a chapel for religious 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



165 



worship, to which many of different persuasions contributed 
liberally. 

Another Unitarian congregation has been formed at Olden- 
barneveld, a new settlement in the back country of the State of 
New York, under the patronage of Colonel Mappa, a gentleman 
of a truly respectable character, and of considerable property and 
influence in that district, aided by the exertions of the Rev. 
Frederic Adrian Vanderkemp, a learned and pious emigrant from 
Holland, whose zeal for the doctrine of the Divine Unity has 
exposed him to many difficulties and privations. This church 
was, for a few years, under the pastoral inspection of the 
Reverend John Sherman, who in the year 1805 w as dismissed, 
on account of his Unitarian principles, from his office as minister 
of the first church at Mansfield, in Connecticut, where he had 
officiated upwards of eight years with great and increasing accept- 
ance and success. Of the circumstances which led to this 
separation, and of the inquisitorial spirit which was exerted 
against him by the bigoted clergy in his neighbourhood, he 
published a plain and affecting account, a copy of which now r 
lies before me. And if some expressions of irritation have escaped 
him, which it would perhaps have been better to omit, it requires 
but little charity to make allowance for them where the provoca- 
tion was so great and unmerited. 

This gentleman, in consequence of an attentive perusal of the 
works of Mr. Lindsey and Dr. Priestley, became a sincere and 
zealous convert to the doctrine of the proper Unity and sole 
Supremacy of God, to the simple humanity of Jesus Christ, and 
to the appropriation of religious worship to the Father only. A 
doctrine of such high importauce, and so materially differing from 
the popular creed, he justly conceived it to be his duty to avow 
and teach.* And, in the first place, he communicated his change 

* This worthy confessor's plain and artless narrative of the feelings of his mind upon 
this occasion is well deserving of being here transcribed, and may it make a due im- 
pression upon all who are placed in similar circumstances, and called out to similar 
trials ! 

" Settled," says he, " in the sentiment that God is one person only, and that Jesus 
Christ is a being distinct from God, dependent upon him for his existence and all his 



166 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



of sentiments to the congregation with which he was connected ; 
when, to his great surprise and satisfaction, he found that, with a 
single exception, they were all earnestly desirous that he should 
continue his connection with them, and that each should quietly 
allow to others the right of private judgment in this and every 
other case. This, however, did not satisfy his clerical brethren, 
with whom, as residing in the neighbourhood, he had joined in a 
voluntary association. Being duly informed by Deacon South- 
worthy the dissatisfied member before alluded to, of his reverend 
pastor's departure from the faith, they, first in a formal session, 
held in October, 1804, excluded him from their society, and dis- 
avowed ministerial connection with him. And in this measure 
was no injustice; for the associated ministers had as good a right 

powers, I was involved in much trial and perplexity of mind with respect to the course 
which duty required me to pursue. I was aware of the prejudices of my brethren in the 
ministry, and foresaw that, should my sentiments be made public, they would certainly 
exert themselves to destroy my ministerial and Christian standing; that my standing 
with the people of my charge, whose confidence I was so happy as to possess, would 
be endangered, if not by their own prejudices, yet by the influence and exertions of 
others ; and, considering the state of the American churches, that I could hardly expect 
an invitation to minister to any people on this side of the Atlantic. Poverty, a diminution 
of my usefulness, and the unhappy condition of my beloved family, stared me in the face, 
and conjured me to be silent respecting my opinions. 

" On the other hand, I considered that, having avowed different sentiments at my 
ordination, it could not be reconciled to a frank and open honesty to allow the world 
to be deceived as to my real belief; — that it is the duty of the minister of the gospel 
to instruct men in the knowledge of its important doctrines; — that I was accountable 
to Gfod for my conduct in this matter, who requires of stewards that a man be found 
faithful, and who certainly must desire his people to be acquainted with the truth, or 
be would never have revealed it; — that no reformation from prevailing errors could take 
place if those who are acquainted with the truth should, through the fear of persecution, 
conceal it from public view; — and, finally, that it is base, and unbecoming the dignity 
of man, in this 19th century of the Christian era, in this land of liberty and free 
inquiry, to bow down to popular absurdities and superstitions, and quietly to abandon 
the inalienable right of private judgment. These considerations determined me to put 
all temporal things at hazard, and to place my trust in that wise Provide nce which had 
always been kind, and which will either deliver us from the evil, or inspire us with 
fortitude to endure it." Upon these generous and pious principles did this Christian 
confessor act throughout the whole of this arduous conflict ; and however Ids ignorant 
and malignant persecutors might injure his good name, and deprive him and his family 
of the comforts of society, and leave them destitute of the nei essaries of life, they could 
not rob him of the inestimable treasure of an approving conscience. How rapidly and 
extensively must the cause of Christian truth prevail, if all who were convinced of it 
possessed the fortitude and zeal of Mr. Sherman ! But this is an elevation of character 
to which every one cannot attain. Different persons have different gifts, and are 
called to different duties. Let every one judge impartially for himself, and candidly 
for others. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



167 



to judge of the truth and importance of their opinions as Mr. 
Sherman of his. But the zeal of these pious inquisitors did not 
stop here: they wrote an official letter to the church at Mansfield, 
stating that they had judged it to be their duty to withdraw from 
their heretical brother their own ministerial connection, and pretty 
plainly intimating their expectation that the society would follow 
their example, and dismiss their pastor, who stood convicted by 
his own confession of many capital errors. This advice, though 
treated with merited neglect by a majority of the church, never- 
theless made a considerable impression upon a small number of 
feeble-minded members, who, in April, i805, addressed a letter to 
the venerable Association, expressing their dissatisfaction with their 
worthy pastor for denying, as they express it, that "the man 
Christ Jesus is truly and properly God;" which, say they, "is a 
doctrine which we cannot be persuaded to give up but with the 
Bible which contains it." And they further profess that " the 
doctrine of a Trinity of persons in the Godhead, as held by 
Calvinistic divines for ages, is a doctrine clearly taught in the 
holy Scriptures ; " and that, " however mysterious and incompre- 
hensible, it lies at the very basis of Christianity." Under these 
difficulties, they implore the advice of the reverend Association. 
But notwithstanding all the activity of Deacon South worth, and 
the artifices and intrigues of some bigots in the neighbourhood, 
only ten signatures could be procured to this address. Such, 
however, was the eagerness of the venerable body, and such their 
zeal to exterminate heresy, that they immediately directed an 
answer to be sent to the complainants, advising them to have 
recourse to a Council or Consociation, which is an ecclesiastical 
court, consisting of ministers and messengers, and invested by 
law with great and indefinite powers. But as the Consociation 
was to consist in a great measure of the same ministers of whom 
the Association was formed, who had already prejudged the cause ; 
and as the congregation at Mansfield had never acknowledged the 
jurisdiction of this court, they rejected the advice with the con- 
tempt it deserved. Nevertheless, as this worthy confessor saw 
that his unrelenting adversaries were determined to pursue every 



168 



MEMOIRS OF THE LAfE 



possible method to disturb the peace of the society, and to ac- 
complish his ruin, and being desirous of preventing the disastrous 
consequences of religious discord, he came to the resolution of 
resigning his pastoral office. This resolution he communicated 
to his friends; and at his desire the church and congregation 
concurred with him in inviting, according to the custom of the 
country, a mutual council of respectable ministers to give their 
advice in the case, and, if they should judge it expedient, to grant 
Mr. Sherman an honourable dismission and recommendation. 

This council assembled in October, 1805, and Mr. Sherman 
first stated his case and the reasons which led him to wish to 
resign his connection with the congregation at Mansfield. After 
which, a deputation from the church, that is^ from the com- 
municants,* w r ere heard on their own behalf; who stated that, 

* It may not perhaps be known to the generality of readers, that in the strict Inde- 
pendent form of church government, the whole power of ecclesiastical discipline, the 
entire management of the property, and the sole right of choosing or dismissing a 
minister, is vested in the church, that is, in the bod} T cf communicants, of those who 
have been admitted into the communion of that church in particular, according to its 
prescribed forms, or who have been received by regular dismission from other churches. 
Mere subscribers have no vote, however numerous and opulent. Mr. Howard, the 
celebrated philanthropist, was the richest member and the most liberal supporter of the 
congregation at Bedford ; he also joined statedly in communion with the church : but 
not having been regularly admitted into the church, he was only regarded as an 
occasional communicant ; and in the choice of a minister not the least attention was 
paid to his expressed opinion and desire, and a minister was chosen who was by no 
n eans acceptable to him. 

In Northamptonshire I recollect another instance in which a venerable minister of 
irreproachable character, of most amiable manners and unimpeached orthodox}-, was 
dismissed from his office by the church under some trifling pretence, in opposition to 
the sense of by far the most respectable part of the congregation. His friends 
appealed to a court of law to reinstate their respected minister in his office. But 
Lord Mansfield, who, whatever might be his political delinquencies, was a most 
liberal and impartial judge in all cases in which the rights of Protestant Dissenters 
were concerned, demanded to see the writings of the place; and finding that they 
vested the communicants with the discretionary power of choosing and deposing a 
minister, he dismissed the cause immediate!} 7 , and the worthy veteian was obliged to 
resign his claims. Another chapel, however, was provided for him, where he continued 
to officiate, and was supported by his friends as long as he lived. 

In America, it is presumed that where the Independent form of church government 
prevails this principle is in general maintained. But in Connecticut they have 
strangely deviated from the original freedom of the separate churches, by the 
institution of what is called the Consociation, a sort of spiritual court, which was 
established in Connecticut in the beginning of the last century. This court has 
power to interfere ''upon ail occasions ecclesiastical," and its censures are authorized 
and supported by the civil power. Each Consociation consists of ministers and 



KEYEREND THEOPHILUS LIS BSE Y. 



169 



though the discontented party did not constitute more than one 
third of the church, yet they plainly perceived that their design 
was first to exclude their pastor, and then to excommunicate 
their brethren. That, in order to prevent this schism, they had 
offered to the complainants either that they should remain un- 
molested with the majority ; or that the majority, for the sake 
of peace, should dismiss their pastor, in order to remain unmo- 
lested with them ; or, if this would not satisfy their opponents, 
Mr. Sherman's friends would retain and maintain their own 
minister, and let the discontented party have theirs. This con- 
cession however, liberal as it was, did not satisfy the dissidents. 
Lastly, a deputation from the congregation were heard before 
the Council, who stated that not less than nine-tenths of the 
society were well satisfied with their minister, and had no desire 
to part with him, or to restrain him in his inquiries. (( Being/'' 
as they express it, " tenacious of the right of private judgment, 
they wish to indulge their minister in the same : neither would 
they wish that he should act the hypocrite to gain the approbation 
of any man ; and they apprehend that, in case Mr. Sherman is 
dismissed, the society will soon be found in a most unhappy 
situation, not likely to be settled with another minister for many 
years." 

Notwithstanding, however, these strong facts, this noble pro- 
fession, and this conciliatory spirit, the prudent Council proceed, 
as a matter of expediency, to dismiss Mr. Sherman from his 
connection with the society : and while they bear honourable 
testimony to his character and talents, and " recommend him to 
the kind reception of those who may see fit to employ him," they 
cautiously subjoin that they " do not consider themselves as 
giving their approbation of Mr. Sherman's peculiar phraseology 
or circumstantial difference of sentiment on the subject of the 

messengers from every congregation which belongs to it, But no congregation is 
compelled to join it. As far as its power extends, it is properl . a court of inquisition ; 
and in some cases the members have discovered too much of an inquisitorial spirit. — 
N.B. 1820 : it is said that in consequence of the popular party having gained the 
ascendancy in the State of Connecticut, th se inquisitorial courts have been put 
down. 



170 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



Trinity." And in their subsequent advice to Mr. Sherman they 
admonish him to " guard against a bold spirit of speculation, and 
an inordinate love of noveltv," 

It is not a little curious to contrast those differences of opinion 
which this venerable Council coolly describe under the soft 
expressions of peculiar phraseology and a circumstantial difference 
of sentiment. The man whom they gravely caution against a 
bold spirit of speculation and inordinate love of novelty, asserts 
the doctrine that there is One God, the sole object of religious 
worship, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ 
Jesus, who is the prophet and messenger of God. While his 
orthodox opponents, to accommodate whom the Council think 
it expedient to dismiss their exemplary pastor, maintain as a 
doctrine essential to salvation, and which they " can never give 
up but with the Bible which contains it," that "the man Jesus 
is truly and properly God." Is the venerable Council serious 
in stating differences so glaring and so substantial as these, as 
nothing more than a " peculiar phraseology/' and a " circum- 
stantial difference" of sentiment? No! No! Opinions such 
as these can no more harmonize with each other than light and 
darkness, than Christ and Belial. They who hold doctrines so 
diametrically opposite cannot be fellow-worshippers in the same 
temple. It was expedient that they should separate. So far the 
Council judged right. But the difficulty lies in discovering the 
expedience, the justice, the common sense of making the greater 
submit to the less; in deciding in opposition to the declared 
principles and wishes of two-thirds of the church and nine- 
tenths of the congregation. It is not to be doubted that the 
members of this Council were upright and honourable men. 
But as the case now stands it is impossible to approve of their 
decision. Why is the majority to be sacrificed to the minority ? 
Why is the upright conscientious inquirer after truth to fall a 
victim to bigotry, ignorance, and intolerance ? This surely is a 
miserable way of promoting either truth or peace. So the 
members of this truly respectable but too timid and cautious 
Council have themselves seen reason to acknowledge ; and one 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



171 



of them at least has amply redeemed his character, and has 
himself very lately become a fellow-sufferer in the cause of 
truth.* 

* This gentleman is the Rev. Abiel Abbot, late pastor of the first church in Coventry, 
in the state of Connecticut, where he was settled in February, 1795, and continued to 
exercise his ministry peaceably and acceptably for fifteen years. In February, 1810, 
some of the members of his church discovered in their worthy pastor symptoms of 
heresy, and after some discussion the church applied for advice to the Association, 
which assembled in October, who again referred them to the Consociation, which 
assemble ! in April, 1811. The Consociation summoned the worthy pastor to reply 
to the charge : but Mr. Abbot protested against their jurisdiction ; neither himself, nor 
the church of which he was pastor, nor the congregation, having ever joined the 
Consociation, or acknowledged its authority. The society likewise entered a similar 
protest. The Consociation, however, nothing daunted, voted its own competency and 
authority, and in their wav proceeded to examine the merits of the case ; the result of 
which was, that the Rev. Abiel Abbot does neither preach nor believe the doctrine of 
the sacred Trinity ; that he does neither preach nor believe the divinity of Jesus 
Christ ; that lie does neither preach nor believe the doctrine of the atonement by the 
blood of Christ, nor of justification by his imputed righteousness ; and that doctrines 
contrary to these, and subversive of the Christian's faith and hop^, are by him 
taught and inculcated. Yoted, That the man who neither believes nor preaches the 
doctrine specified, is disqualified for the office of the gospel ministry; for he has 
essentially renounced the Scriptures, has made shipwreck of faith, has denied the 
Messiah, &c. The Council, therefore, feel themselves required ly Jesus Christ, the 
great l-fod and Saviour, &c, to declare, and they hereby do declare, that the 
ministerial relation between the Rev. A. A. and the first church at Coventry ought to 
be, and is dissolved, &c. 

Such, at the commencement of the nineteenth century, was the language, and such 
were the extravagant claims, of an assembly of Protestant Christian ministers 
assuming the title of the Consociation of the County of Tolland, in the State of 
Connecticut. Neither the Fathers of the Council of Trent, nor those of Nice, nor of 
any intervening Council, whether General or Special, ever pretended to higher 
authority, nor made a bolder claim to inspiration or infallibility. 

Mr. Abbot, however, and his friends, the great majority of his society, not feeling 
themselves inclined to submit to the dictates of the inspired Council, resolved that the 
unwarranted censure of the Consociation should have no effect upon their mutual 
connection ; and he still continued to officiate among them as before. Nevertheless, 
to guard on the one hand against the interposition of the secular arm, and on the otMer 
to testify his respect to the Council itself, the members of which were individually 
respectable, this amiable and persecuted confessor thought it advisable to invite a 
mutual Council of grave and learned divines from the State of Massachusetts to 
deliberate how far it was his duty to respect the decision of the Tolland Consociation. 
The very sensible and pious answer of Dr. Osgood, who declined attending, contains 
many very just and pertinent observations. " For myself," says he, " I have little 
faith in, or respect for, Ecclesiastical Councils. I have long thought them unauthorized 
in Scripture, and for the most part worse than useless, excepting as mere referees or 
arbiters mutually chosen by parties at variance to settle their disputes." Speaking of 
the censure of the Consociation, he adds : " It is indeed a most extraordinary procedure 
in this land of republican liberty, where all Ecclesiastical Establishments are explicitly 
disclaimed. This consideration, how r ever, assures you, that though the tongues and 
pens of Ecclesiastical Councils be as free and unrestrained as those of any other 
description of citizens, yet they have no power to execute their decrees ; and you have 
no more reason to tremble at the anathema of the Consociation of Tolland County, than 



172 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



Mr. Sherman being thus dismissed from a congregation where 
he had passed eight years in harmony and usefulness^ now found 
himself cast out upon the world destitute almost of the necessaries 
of life, and under the ban of a powerful party, who were deter- 
mined to the utmost to obstruct his future exertions, and to 
drive him from the ministry. Happily, though the will was 
good, the pow T er was wanting. The pastor and the congregation 
appear to have regarded it as their duty to acquiesce in the 
decision of the Council, however painful : and in an affecting 
address which was presented by the society to Mr. Sherman, they 
express their deep regret at the unexpected dissolution of their 
connection, when they most wished for its continuance, — when 
they most wanted his ministerial services and friendly counsels, 
— and when he stood highest in their esteem, and had engaged 
their warmest affections. This address was voted November 12, 
1805, and the answer to it is dated from Oldenbarneveld, 
January 1, 1806. Mr. Sherman's talents were not suffered to 
remain long unemployed ; and he appears almost immediately 

at a bull of the Roman Pontiff. It m : ght therefore, perhaps, be advisable to let it pass 
with as little notice ; suffering it to have no other effect than to render you a better 
Christian and a better man." 

These are the observations and advice of a wise and good man ; which perhaps it 
would have been most prudent to have followed. The mutual Council, however, 
convened by Mr. Abbot and his friends, assembled at Coventry, on the 15th of June, 
1811, the venerable Dr. Lathrop in the chair ; and after due deliberation they conclude 
that " the Consociation had no right to dissolve the connection between the pastor and 
society, the great majority of whom manifest a warm attachment to his person and 
ministry; but that from considerations of expediency they do dissolve it, and declare 
that it is dissolved accordingly.'' Thus again we see the sacred cause of Christian truth 
sacrificed to a mean and temporizing policy ; and the faithful champion of truth, the 
amiable, useful, and beloved pastor torn from his weeping flock, and consigned to 
poverty and solitude for the sake of preserving a hollow, deceitful, temporary peace. 
But this cannot last long ; nor can s-uch a measure be approved by the great Head of 
the Church. Of this strange event, the virtuous sufferer has published a fair and 
interesting narrative, which is written with a temper and spirit truly Christian. " I 
will bring," says he, " no railing accusation. The men from whom I have differed, I 
have loved: the men from whom I have suffered, I have respected ; and to none am I 
conscious, to this hour, of feeling an unfriendly sentiment. From the heart I wish 
them grace, mercy, and peace. " It is, however, but justice to the members of this, 
perhaps, too cautious Council, to add, that they do not presume to judge of ihe faith of 
their unfortunate brother ; that they express the highest respect for his moral character, 
and that they cordially recommend him to the pastoral office in some other church. And 
if there be, as I am sure there is, a love of truth, virtue, and liberty, in the New 
England States, this able, honest, and pious sufferer for truth will not be suffered to 
remain long in silence and seclusion. 



REVEREND TEEOPHILUS LTXDSEY. 



173 



after his dismission to have been invited to undertake the 
pastoral charge of the small congregation which had been 
collected chiefly by the labours of the excellent Adrian Vander- 
kemp. And to enable him to remove his family to this distance, 
he received a very handsome pecuniary present from his friends 
at Mansfield, which he acknowledges with warm gratitude. At 
last this respectable society seems to have roused itself from 
its slumber, and to have taken the step which it might 
have been expected that their affection would have dictated im- 
mediately upon their worthy pastor's dismission. The church 
and the congregation invite him to resume the pastoral office at 
Mansfield. This invitation was dated December 19, but it was 
then too late. A scene of greater usefulness had, in his estimation, 
opened before him, and to this consideration he regarded it as 
his duty to sacrifice personal gratification and social enjoyment. 
But in his reply to this application, he introduces a very judicious 
summary of the evidence of the Unitarian doctrine, and concludes 
with expressing his grateful sense of the kindness of his friends, 
and with a very impressive address to the youth of the con- 
gregation.* For some years afterwards Mr. Sherman remained 
at Oldenbarneveld ; and in a letter to Mrs. Lindsey, dated 
November 5, 1807, the worthy Mr. Vanderkemp expresses 
himself thus favourably of the exertions and success of his re- 
spected coadjutor : 

* The conclusion of this worthy confessor's address to the youth of his late congre- 
gation of Mansfield is so excellent, that no apology can be necessary for inserting it. 

" To the great question in dispute undoubtedly your minds are also directed. The 
subject is of primary importance, and demands your serious and attentive consideration. 
Surely you ought to know whether you are to be the worshippers of Three Gods, or of 
One God only. Let me exhort you to search the Scriptures diligently on this point, 
and see whether they teach you that three divine persons, three distinct moral agents, 
make, when added together, only one individual being. Should the result of your 
investigation comport with the doctrine which I have taught you from the Scriptures, I 
wi.-h you may be duly impressed with the importance of openly avowing it, and 
appearing as its advocates ; that as you rise into public life you will never be 
asha ; ed of the interesting truth, but boldly and faithfully stand in its defence, 
though the multitude should be against you. Let your zeal, however, be well tempered 
with Christian charity. Be moderate and candid, liberal and catholic, in your treatment 
of those who may differ. Above all, always remember that the best orthodoxy is a 
faithful observance of the sacred precepts of that One God, whom you profess and 
acknowledge." 



174 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



" It must fill Mr. Lindsey's heart with gladness that his labours 
are blessed here in the wilderness, through the means of those 
whom he enlightened and confirmed in the gospel doctrine by his 
writings. Our pastor, with his amiable and worthy wife, has the 
greatest reason for gratitude to the Divine Being, being beloved, 
respected, and useful in spreading religious knowledge far and 
wide. Our situation, in a religious point of view, is very gratify- 
ing. Notwithstanding, our pastor has to struggle with furious 
bigotry and ignorant superstition, which blacken his character 
and slander his innocence, while infidelity has her adherents 
through the whole country. That kind of waitings are spread 
everywhere, and peddled round the country by hawkers in the 
wilderness, sometimes under spurious titles. Volney and Paine 
and Hollis are found in miserable cots and hovels, while it is 
often difficult to meet the sacred Scriptures. This evil has been 
nursed through the misconduct of high-flying Calvinist teachers 
in New England, in choosing their missionaries from the most 
stupid and bigoted ; perhaps from necessity : while men of talents 
among them decline the task. It is therefore not surprising that 
our pastor is heard with delight wherever there remains any claim 
to virtue and religion. His plain affable manners, his energetic 
manner of preaching, his vast superiority over his antagonists in 
disputes whenever they attack him, increase his influence every 
day. He preaches in the week twenty miles round, and is san- 
guine in his expectations that he shall form another society twelve 
miles from hence. Few weeks are passing in which some one or 
other of the vicinity do not join our church, and those by far the 
most respectable among them. Disney's tracts and Seddon's 
sermons have operated a great deal of good : so, too, have the 
works of my worthy friend, w'ho now ere long shall receive the 
glorious reward of his labours. Our minister has instituted a 
school of moral instruction, in which every subject of natural and 
revealed religion is discussed freely/' 

In a letter dated April, 1809, Mr. Vanderkemp writes in a less 
sanguine, yet not altogether discouraging strain : " The gospel 
cause gains slowly here and at Philadelphia. We have at length 



REVEREND THEOPH1LUS LINDSEY. 



175 



succeeded to re-engage our worthy minister/' who it should seem 
was about to leave them for want of necessary support for his 
family. " His ministerial labours are not in vain. Well supplied 
with a tolerable library, he has seen it enlarged, by Mr. J. 
Priestley and Mr. J. Taylor from Philadelphia, by some valuable 
additions. He deserves fully this encouragement. His talents 
are bright : his sermons are plain and persuasive ; his prayers 
devout and ardent ; — and his conduct struck his slanderers dumb. 5 ' 
Unfortunately, whether it were owing to the inability of the 
congregation at Oldenbarneveld to raise an adequate income for 
the support of their worthy pastor ; or whether, as is often the 
case with persons of genius, and whose minds are devoted to 
intellectual pursuits, there might be on his part too little atten- 
tion paid to economical arrangements ; in the next account we 
learn that Mr. Sherman was under the necessity of dissolving his 
connection with this society, and that the flock was at that time 
left without a shepherd, and in a state by no means encourag- 
ing. " The best that I can say about our situation is/' says the 
excellent Mr. Vanderkemp, in a letter to Mrs. Lindsey, dated 
August, 1810, "that we are in a very torpid state. Since March 
we have had no minister. Though a few doubled their subscrip- 
tions, though twice we took the defalcations of others on our 
account, we could not raise a sum adequate to his salary : so the 
connection was dissolved, to our great grief and the irreparable loss 
of this community. We have resolved, however, and continue 
steadfastly our religious meetings. Some of us have engaged to 
read in turns; so that we are edified sometimes by Clarke and 
Tillotson, sometimes by Blair, and sometimes by Lindsey, Priestley., 
Price, and Toulmin."* 

* In a letter which I received from Mr. Sherman, dated Oldenbarneveld, August 25, 
1818, he states that his sole reason for resigning his connection with the congregation, 
was the necessity of providing for a large and growing family. He now keeps a 
flourishing academical school, by the profits of which his circumstances have been 
retrieved : and he expresses a hope that, if life be spared, he may again be called to 
preach the gospel of the grace of God. Mr. S. likewise states, in justification of the 
Council at Mansfield, that it was at his own desire that he was dismissed ; — this fact, 
however, should have been more clearly stated in his publication. 



178 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



Of the present state of the Unitarian doctrine in the district 
(now the State) of Maine, the author of this Memoir is not in- 
formed. Whether the congregation at Portland collected by the 
worthy Mr. Oxnard, or that at Saco, under the patronage of the 
truly excellent Mr. Thatcher, still exist, or in what state they now 
are, he has not heard. At Hallowell, the first families in the 
place are in their principles decidedly Unitarian ; and it is hoped 
that they will find some opportunity of erecting an altar to the 
One God, and that by the powerful influence of instruction and 
example they will diffuse the blessings of national religion in a dis- 
trict which, under their auspices, is rapidly rising into opulence 
and distinction. 

In the State of Massachusetts, and particularly in the environs 
of Boston, the great cause of Christian truth is making a silent 
but rapid and irresistible progress. From the inquisitive and 
liberal spirit which prevails in the University of Cambridge, 
which has never been checked at any time, but which there is 
reason to expect will receive every requisite aid and encouragement 
from the present learned and accomplished Principal, Dr. Kirk- 
land, the happiest consequences may be expected to ensue. 

The edition of Griesbach's Greek Testament with select various 
readings, and with the accurate and laborious author's latest 
corrections, a copy of which was procured in Germany by the 
late reverend, learned, and eloquent Joseph S. Buckminster, which 
under his inspection was elegantly and correctly reprinted in 
America as a text- book for the students of Harvard College, can- 
not fail to contribute essentially to the true interpretation of the 
sacred oracles. And a large and beautiful impression of the 
Improved Version, with the Notes, published by my intelligent, 
learned, and valuable friend and correspondent Mr. W. Wells, of 
Boston, whose zeal for truth is beyond all praise, will, it is hoped, 
contribute to the better understanding of difficult and doubtful 
passages in holy writ. The Monthly Anthology, the General 
Repository, and of late the Christian Disciple, and other valuable 
periodical publications conducted by gentlemen of distinguished 
talents and liberality, tend very much to diffuse a spirit of inquiry. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LIXDSEY. 



177 



Bigotry is discountenanced ; and divine worship in many of the 
principal churches at Boston is carried on upon principles strictly , 
if not avowedly. Unitarian.* Being myself a friend to in- 

* A very correct, certainly not a partial account of the present state of professed 
Unitarianism in the State of the Massachusetts, and particularly in Boston, has lately 
been published in the Monthly Repository for March and April. 1812, in a letter 
addressed by my highly esteemed friend the Reverend Francis Parkman, of i-oston, to 
the Reverend John Grundy, in reply to a flattering account of the state of Unitarianism 
in Boston and its vicinity, contained in the Appendix to Mr. Grundy's eloquent dis- 
course at the opening of a new place of worship at Liverpool. This account appears to 
have been communicated to my worthy friend by some person whose zeal in a good 
cause led him to see the objects of his wish in rather too favourable a light. — See 
Appendix. Xo. X. 

The following extract from a letter written by a minister in Ameiica to hi3 friend in 
England, dated October, 1810, though somewhat long, will, it is hoped, be found both 
entertaining and important ; it will throw much light upon the state of religion in 
Boston, and may give rise to some useful reflections : — 

" On my return home I spent the Sabbath at Templeton, and I preached twice. 
There are not more than foity or fifty families near the meeting ; but they come in all 
directions from the woods and mountains in such numbers as to make altogether a 
goodly company. There being in almost every parish, especially in Massachusetts and 
Connecticut, a settled minister always of good morals, and generaLy of real piety, to 
administer divine ordinances to them and lead them in the way ot t;uth and duty, can 
scarcely fail having a good influence upon the people at large, in preserving them 
from that gross ignorance and grievous profligacy so prevalent in many countries that 
are called Christian. Nothing would satisfy my son but I must, whilst in Boston, 
have my picture drawn; this cut up my time so very much, I could not attend so many 
of their private meetings as I otherwise should. It was the General Election for the 
State ; the Democrats gained the ascendency. I heard the election sermon preached by 
Dr. P., a very warm Federalist. He made it his business to expose the nefarious pro- 
ceedings of the opposite party — in truth, a most copious subject; and was heard by the 
people in the gall-ries with high approbation, and almost clapping. The Convention 
Sermon (i.e. the sermon preached before the General Assembly of Ministers) was 
preached by Dr. Porter. Full two hundred ministers were in town. Their public 
business is transacted in the Court-house. The Convention has no ecclesiastical 
authority. Their proceedings and resolutions are merely advisory, but are not without 
considerable effect. The principal thing that came before them was a complaint against 
some missionaries for going into parishes where there were settled ministers, holding 
meetings without their knowledge, and even in opposition to their advice. The con- 
duct of the missionaries was highly disapjrroved. The Monday after the General 
Election for the State, there is always a sermon preached to the Artillery Comp ;ny. 
Mr. L., I was informed, gave them an excellent discourse, but I did not hear it. I 
went to the meeting door, but the crowd was so great that I did not go in. The two 
Legislative bodies, the Governor, and a number of the principal gentlemen and clergy, 
after the service was over, dined at Fanuel Hall, a large building over the market-house, 
where they have their town meetings and transact their town business. Mr. Jackson, 
the late British Minister, was there. I was invited to dine with them, but declined it. 
I was, however, introduced to Mr. Jackson at his lodgings, and once dined with him 
at Mr. B.'s. Mrs. Jackson, with four other ladies were there ; the rest of the party 
were gentlemen, about thirty in all. We had a splendid entertainment. Two courses 
of all the delicacies money could procure. Among the rest, a dish of green peas, the 
first brought to market, which, the papers said, c-st four dollars a bushel. The 



N 



178 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



genuousness and candour, I could wish to see all who are truly 
Unitarians openly such, and to teach the doctrine of the simple 

Bostonians paid Mr. Jackson great attention, and were much pleased with his 
behaviour while among them. I preached for Dr. E., Mr. B., Mr. L., and Mr. F., at 
the Stone chapel. The last-mentioned gentleman was never episcopally ordained ; of 
course, the ministers who have been so never exchange with him. In this place the 
Governor used to worship when the State was a British colony. It is a large stone 
building, just like an English church. The other three are large and costly buildings, 
and have numerous a^mblies meet in them. The galleries were designed principally 
for Negroes ; but there is now a meeting built for the Africans to worship in by them- 
selves. A mulatto minister preaches to them. There are said to be eleven or twt-lve 
hundred people of colour in the town. It was Communion-day at Mr. B.'s ; there 
were about one hundred and fifty communicants. At Dr. E.'s, there must have been 
two hundred. Never did I see such a display of plate on the Communion-table. At 
Dr. E.'s. there were five or six flagons, which held from three to four quarts each ; six 
tankards, each containing a full quart; two dozen of cups of various sizes and forms, 
with six large plates for the bread; all handsome, and as bright as silver can be made. 
No person of a grain of sense can suppose these things to be of any importance. But 
as many of these people display great opulence in their own houses, I see nothing 
improper in their expending a portion of their superfluous wealth upon the house of 
(jol. A charity sermon is preached once a quarter for the benefit of the poor belong- 
ing to the Congregational societies in this town. The ministers of that denomination 
preach it in th-ir turns, and the money is equally divided among the societies for dis- 
tribution. About fourteen hundred dollars are collected in this way in the year. Mr. C. 
preached an excellent discourse, and is in truth a charming preacher ; being remarkably 
serious and sensible, and universally liked. The place was quite full, though it will 
accommodate upwards of two thousand people. There is always a collection at the 
Convention Sermon for the relief of poor ministers and their families. About six 
hundred dollars were collected on that occasion. Though the people in Boston have 
lost much of their ancient rigidity respecting the Sabbath, great attention is paid to 
that day. Few resort into the country, and those who do, go early in the morning that 
they may not be noticed. Very few visit on that day, and but few are to be seen in 
the streets, except when going to or from public worship, and then the streets are 
crowded. At sunset their Sabbath is considered as ended ; the gentlemen often visit 
their friends, and the ladies sometimes take their work. In religious families the 
Saturday evenings are observed with strictness; but some, as might he expected, under 
pretence of keeping Saturday evening in preference to the other, keep neither. It is 
customary in the gayest, and even the most profligate, to connect themselves with some 
religious society, so far as to contribute to its support, and occasionally to attend. This 
is necessary if they would be thought of any consequence in society, and even to 
preserve themselves from ridicule and reproach. Br. E., who has been a minister at 
Boston above thirty years, tells me he never knew a greater regard paid to religion in 
that town than now, nor does he think there ever was in his time more real goodness 
among them. On election day I dined with about thirty gentlemen at Mr. P.'s, one of 
the deacons of Br. E.'s church. We had a most sumptuous entertainment. When they 
had drunk two or three glasses of wine after dinner, the company dispersed. This I 
find is a pretty general practice, and thus all temptation to drink to excess is avoided. 
Their graces before and after meals are generally longer than with you. That office 
is assigned to the minister of the host, or to the oldest minister present. Epis- 
copalianism is at most only upon a level with other denominations. The Bostonians are 
very commendable for keeping very much to their own places of worship, and for speak- 
ing of their own minister as one of the best preachers in the town. The clergy seem 
to be comfortably supported, their salaries being from 1,500 to 2,000 dollars a vear, and 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



179 



indivisible Unity of God as well as to practise the rites of 
Unitarian worship. But I will not presume to judge for another. 

they are constantly receiving handsome presents. They very generally wear in the 
summer a silk gown and cassock, with a band ; in the winter a cloth one ; and altogether 
their worship is kept up in a splendid style. The pulpits throughout the country will 
hold from four to six ministers; and in Boston their rich cushions and curtains, or 
Venetian blinds, ornamental pillars and splendid chandeliers, give their meetings a 
magnificent appearance. I think those which have been lately built are too large; 
a minister must have a good voice to nil them. Boston is said to contain 30,000 
people, and is increasing very fast. The ground on which the town stands is greatly 
elevate! on the south-west. It makes a noble appearance from the country. The 
State House on B-acon Hill is a magnificent structure. All their Meetings have 
steeples with one bell. That to the new Meeting in Park Screet is very lofty, and one 
of the handsomest I ever saw. It stands on high ground at the top of the Mall, is 
seen all rou d the country, and indeed beyond the lighthouse far into Massachusetts 
Bay. The High Calvinists, who built this Meeting, expected to have lessened the other 
congregations, but I am told they have not yet done it. Should they get a popular 
minister, I have no doubt there will be a large society : the disposition of the people 
for attending public worship being such that I expect all their meetings will be well 
attended. In the old part of the town the streets are narrow and crooked, but are 
much improved and improving- in that respect. Formerly, they were much exposed to 
depredations from fire, the houses being mostly built of wood. The danger from this 
quarter is lessening daily, as no buildings higher than fourteen feet are permitted to be 
erected of wood now. The town s ands on a peninsula, joining to the main land only 
by a narrow neck on the south. Th^y were, therefore, obliged to make use of boats to 
get to and fr >m town. But since the war, five bridges have been built over the 
different waters that surround Boston and Charleston, which are a vast convenience to 
the inhabitants. These bridges are all built of wood, and some of them are above a 
mile in length. The ministers of Boston and that vicinity discover considerable accuracy 
and taste in their compositions, and, generally speaking, may be considered as well 
furnished divines. Dr. 0. is a man of very strong powers of mind ; and though he 
distinguishes himself upon ail public occasions, and especially tho-e of a political nature, 
his general manner of preaching is very pious and edifying. The clergy are invited to 
a great many good dinners. A Boston merchant would hardly think of making a 
dinner for his friends without invit'ng three or four clergymen. Some that I once 
knew I believe injured their health and shortened their days by eating and drinking 
too much. Those now on the stage do not give in to any excess." 

For this long, but curious and interesting extract, I trust that the reader will require 
no apology. I will only add two brief reflections. First, that the ministers of the 
Church of England are not the only persons who dislike itinerant intruders into 
parishes which are served by regular clergymen. The spirit of all establishments is the 
same, whether the favoured sect be Episcopalian. Presbyterian, or Congregational. 
Secondly — may it be permitted to put the question without offence ]— Can it upon the 
common principles of human nature be reasonably expected of a body of clergy, nursed 
in the lnp of ease and affluence, and placed in a station of such high secular con- 
sideration and comfort as that of the ministers of Boston, that they should come forward 
and, by an open profession of unpopular truth, voluntarily risk the loss of all their 
temp ral dignity and comfort, and incur the contempt and enmity of many who are now 
their warmest admirers and friends } I say not this by way of disparagement to the 
present body of ministers in Boston and its neighbourhood. Some of these I have the 
pleasure to call my friends, and I know them to be possessed of talents the most dis- 
tinguished, of piety the most fervent, and of benevolence and zeal the most ardent, 
active, and laudable, and of the rest I have heard a most favourable character. It is 



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There may possibly be reasons for caution which do not occur to 
me, and of which I am not competent to judge. The time must 
however come, perhaps it is near, when truth will no longer 
endure confinement, but will burst forth in all her glory. The 
dull hollow rumbling at the bottom of the sea, which is scarcely 
noticed by the inattentive traveller who is gliding carelessly over 
the solid plate of ice which encrusts the surface, is, to the wary 
and experienced observer, a sure presage of the speedy and sudden 
explosion of the immense superincumbent mass, and of the 
restoration of the imprisoned waves to their native freedom, to 
the consternation and often to the utter destruction of those who 
refuse to listen to the friendly premonition.* 



APPENDIX to CHAPTER IX. 

I have republished this chapter without any material alterations ; 
though I have learned with regret that some worthy persons have 
taken offence at it, and that it has given birth to a warm, not to 
say an angry, controversy on the other side of the Atlantic. 

It should seem that many who claim the honourable title of 
Unitarians in the American States, are very desirous to have 

the situation, not the men, which excites my apprehension. And who will venture to 
say of himself that his virtue would be equal to the trial? Yet still it cannot reason- 
ably be hoped that truth will make any visible and rapid progress till her advocates 
rise above the fear of man and the love of ease, and are willing, with the Apostles of 
Christ, and the reformers of every age, to forsake all and to sacrifice their dearest 
interests in her glorious cause. The encouragement and success which such faithful 
confessors would meet with in that populous and opulent city would, I doubt not, be 
very great. The harvest truly is plenteous ; it is ripe and ready to be gathered in. 
Highly honoured will that servant be to whom the great Master of the field shall 
communicate a portion of his energetic spirit, and shall say, " Put in thy sickle and 
reap." 

* See the interesting narrative of the very narrow escape of two Moravian mis- 
sionaries in travelling over the ice, in consequence of neglecting the advice of some 
friendly Esquimaux, in the History of the Mission of the United Brethren to 
Labrador. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



181 



it known that they are not " Unitarians in Mr. Belsham's sense ot 
the word/ 5 Of this I have no right to complain : I never desired 
to set myself up as the head of a party l nor have I the slightest 
pretensions to it ; being nothing more than a humble disciple 
in the school of Lardner, of Lindsey, and of Priestley ; having 
learned of them and of a few others, particularly Locke, how 
to read and examine the Scriptures, and being a follower of them 
so far as they appear to me to be followers of Christ and his 
Apostles. But I do complain of palpable misrepresentation of my 
opinions, and of an exaggerated account of my sentiments con- 
cerning the person of Christ, to which I am by no means dis- 
posed to subscribe. 

In perfect concurrence with the first-named venerable men, 
I believe that Jesus of Nazareth was a human being, in all respects 
like unto his brethren, only distinguished from the rest of mankind 
as the greatest of all the prophets of God, chosen by the Most 
High to be the founder of a new and universal dispensation, 
the prince and the leader of life, the first begotten from the dead, 
to whom the spirit was communicated without measure. By which 
I mean, that he was fully instructed in the nature, object, and 
extent of his divine mission, and that he was endowed with a 
voluntary power of working those miracles which were necessary 
to excite attention, and to demonstrate the divinity of his mission. 

In this definition of Unitarianism I perfectly harmonize with 
Dr. Lardner, Mr. Lindsey, and Dr. Priestley : it is no more 
my definition than it is theirs : and I have no right to the honour 
of being represented as its author. They who disclaim Uni- 
tarianism according to my definition, disclaim the Unitarianism of 
Lardner, Lindsey, and Priestley — men of the greatest distinction 
for theological learning, for their researches into the Scripture, and 
for the unblemished sanctity of their character. 

I agree with Mr. Lindsey and Dr. Priestley in rejecting upon 
critical grounds the story of the miraculous conception, and in 
believing that Jesus Christ was the son of Joseph and Mary. 
And being in all respects like other men, he must originally have 
been a peccable, or he could not have been a moral agent : and the 
perfection of his character was owing to moral discipline. Though 
he was a Son, he learned obedience by the things he suffered ; 
and he grew in wisdom as he grew in stature. And though 
inspired with a perfect knowledge of everything relating to 
his divine mission, it would be absurd to suppose that a human 



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being was inspired with omniscience. In those philosophical, 
historical, and other topics which were not immediately connected 
with the objects of his mission, he probably entertained opinions 
similar to those of his countrymen in similar circumstances. This 
is all that is meant when it is said that Jesus was fallible : and in 
this conclusion all consistent believers in the proper humanity 
of Jesus Christ must agree. Dr. Priestley thought that Jesus had 
erred in the interpretation of Scripture prophecy, and in the case 
of the Gospel demoniacs. I do not completely agree with my 
late learned and pious friend in all his conclusions upon these 
subjects : but if they were true, they would not at all affect 
the authority of Christ in those points to which his divine mission 
properly extended. 

If Unitarianism is a belief in the existence of one God only, in 
opposition to a plurality of deities, I am decidedly of opinion, 
with Dr. Lardner, Mr. Lindsey, and Dr. Priestley, that genuine 
Arians have no claim to the title of Unitarians. Dr. Lardner, 
with all his mildness, had such a dislike to Arianism that he could 
hardly speak of it w T ith temper. "Dr. Watts/'' says he, "to his 
honour be it spoken, never was an Arian/" And though he lived in 
an age when Arianism was triumphant, so profound was his know- 
ledge of Christian antiquity, and so clear his discernment of 
Scripture theology, that it was a well-known maxim with him, 
" The pride of Arianism will have a fall." Mr. Lindsey, " to his 
honour be it spoken/'' never was an Arian. Dr. Priestley and 
others descended from the heights of orthodoxy to the plains 
of Unitarianism through the medium of Arianism. I am there- 
fore very far from intending the slightest disparagement to 
those who hold the Arian doctrine, as I myself for many years 
very honestly did, with perhaps a slight modification of what 
is now called the indwelling scheme, in whatever language I may 
now think it right to enter my protest against it. No one surely 
who thinks rightly concerning the Unity of God will ever 
admit that Dr. Clarke's scheme of an eternally begotten Logos, 
or the proper Arian doctrine of a created Logos, who is the sole 
former, preserver, and governor of the whole created universe, 
which completely excludes God from all concern in his works, 
is consistent with just notions of the Unity of the Supreme 
Being. Upon both these hypotheses, if the Father is nominally 
God, the Logos is really and the only God. And as to modern 
Arianism, such as that of Dr. Price, which supposes the Logos to 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



183 



be only the former, supporter, governor and judge of this world, or 
of the planetary system, if ever polytheism existed in the world, 
this doctrine is such. For not only does it exclude God from his 
works like the theories of Arius and Dr. Clarke, so far as this 
world is concerned ; but it naturally and necessarily leads to the 
conclusion that there are as many Logi as there are systems, 
and that each Logos is endowed with infinitely more power than all 
the gods and goddesses of the heathen world put together ; who 
yet were also subject to one great Supreme. Arianism therefore is 
polytheism in its strictest sense. But modern Arians, as if they 
were determined to recede as far as possible from the letter of 
Scripture, having thus deified their Lord and Master, and 
raised him into the situation of a substitute for the Supreme 
Being, strangely, and in direct opposition to the dictates of 
common sense and to the plainest language of Scripture, deny him 
the worship and homage due to the rank and character to which 
they have elevated him. For while the Scripture expressly requires 
that we shall worship and bow down and kneel before the Lord our 
Maker, for he is our God ; the modern Arian replies, " No, 
we will not worship the Lord our Maker, for he is not our God; 
and to worship him would be an act of downright idolatry : but we 
will worship our Maker's Maker, for he alone is our God : " a 
strange doctrine ; for which if any one can find any foundation 
in the Scripture, he must read with very different eyes from mine. 
It is indeed astonishing that so many wise and good men should 
be so blind to the plain consequences of their own opinions, 
and should fancy that they are Unitarians, when they believe 
not only in two, but in two hundred thousand gods. But, as 
Dr. Price says, we are apt to wonder at one another : and it is 
almost impossible to make sufficient allowance for the strength of 
early prejudice and the influence of fixed principles. But at 
least I think it will be allowed me that, while I entertain these 
sentiments of the Arian hypothesis, I cannot very consistently 
class Arians with Unitarians.* As to the very modern doctrine 

* Nothing can be more extraordinary and unaccountable than the zeal with which 
modern Arians explode the worship of Jesus Christ. For upwards of twenty years of 
my life I was an Arian or a Clarkist. I believed that the spirit, the Logos which 
animated the body of Christ, was the maker of heaven and earth and sea, and all 
things therein : I believed that he was my maker, supporter, benefactor and governor, 
in whom I lived and moved and existed : I believed that he descended from his 
celestial glories; that he became incarnate; that he took the form of a servant; 
and, that by undergoing the severest pains of body and mind, he satisfied Divine 



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of the simple pre-existence of Christ, the abettors of it have 
certainly no claim to the title of Arians, but have a very good 
right to be numbered with Unitarians, though, as I think, under 
a cloud of error. 

No small share of credit is claimed by many on both sides the 
Atlantic for being what they call practical preachers, and for not 
troubling their hearers with what they represent as speculative 
notions. And not unfrequently a sarcasm or an inuendo is 
thrown out against those of their brethren who think it their 
duty to instruct, as well as to exhort. If such practical teachers 
satisfy their own consciences, and are useful to others, it is well. 
Happy is he who condemneth not himself in the thing that he 
alloweth. Theirs is comparatively an easy task. Others are 
placed in circumstances of greater difficulty and severer trial. 
Enlightened by a serious, long, and painful study of the Scrip- 
tures in the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, they feel 
themselves not only called to resign their most cherished pre- 
judices, but to abandon their dearest connections, to exchange 

justice and expiated the sins of men. I believed that after his resurrection he ascended 
into heaven ; that he resumed his original glory ; and that he ever lives to make 
intercession for us, in the usual sense of the words. I believed that the first duty of 
a Christian was to commit his immortal interests into the hands of Christ, who was 
ever willing to take the charge of them ; and who was always at hand to sympathize, 
to strengthen, to console, to advise, and to keep what was committed to him to that day. 
With these views of Christ, was it possible to suppress the feelings of veneration, 
of gratitude, of hope, of confidence, of joy and the like ; or to restrain the natural 
expressions of those feelings, in the language of prayer and praise] It was utterly 
impossible. And never sh 11 1 forget the delight with which 1 have a thousand and a 
thousand times repeated the language of Grove's Sacramental Meditations: " Do 
I not love thee, 0 my Saviour ! thou knowest all things, thou knowestthat I love thee. 
1 love thee, 0 Jesus ! but not as 1 would not as I ought to love thee," &c. Or of that 
beautiful hymn of Dr. Doddridge : 

" Do I not love thee, 0 my Lord ! 

Then let me nothing love ; 
Be dead, my heart, to every joy, 

If Jesus cannot move." 

And even now I hardly dare trust my feelings with those recollections ; even though, 
in con-equence of having acquired correcter notions of the person of Christ, I am fully 
convinced that our exalted Master would not think himself honoured by those affections 
and addresses which are alone due to his Fa her and our Father, to his God and 
our God. But how it is that modern Arians can possibly entertain these sentiments of 
Jesus Christ, and yet refuse him the correspondent homage; and not only so, but make 
their boast of it, a d glory in it as a circumstance which entitles them to the honour- 
able title of Unitarians, is utterly beyond my comprehension. When I entertained 
their sentiments concerning the person and offices of Christ, 1 should rather have said, 
" Perish Unitarianism ! if it requires a sacrifice so costly as that of the affection 
and homage which are due to the Redeemer." 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



185 



affluence for poverty, and reputation for contempt. Being them- 
selves happily possessed of the simplicity of evangelical truth, 
discerning its inestimable value, and feeling its enlivening and 
consolatory power, they believe it to be their duty to enter their 
solemn protest against popular and prevailing errors, and to be as 
explicit in teaching God's sacred truth, as others are in publishing 
their unscriptural and pernicious errors. In thus fearlessly obey- 
ing the dictates of conscience they often incur severe privations, 
and are censured and even abandoned by some from whom they 
would have expected more liberal treatment. It is however 
enough for them that God knows their heart ; and that his appro- 
bation will make ample amends for every loss which they may 
sustain, for every pang which they endure, for all the calumny 
and reproach which they encounter from the w r orld, and from 
the unkind censures of their mistaken brethren. If they are 
honoured as the humblest instruments of promoting the truth of 
God and the purity of the Gospel, none of these things move 
them. 

As to the rest, I trust that this discussion has been the happy 
means of promoting the great cause of the proper Unity and the 
sole unrivalled glory of God in the United States. I am happy 
to learn that ministers both of the Arian and Unitarian per- 
suasions are now in the habit of openly professing the doctrines 
which they believe : and I do not wonder that, in consequence of 
this fearless integrity in a land of perfect religious liberty, Chris- 
tian truth is Hashing like lightning through that highly favoured 
empire, from Boston to Baltimore, and from Philadelphia to the 
Illinois. And I doubt not that in less than a century the belief 
of one God even the Father, and of one Mediator between God 
and man, the man Christ Jesus, will become the prevailing religion 
of the Western world.* 

* The admirable discourse of the Rev. W. E. Charming, delivered at the ordination 
of the Rev. Jared Sparks, the respectable minister of the new Unitarian church at 
Baltimore, in May, 1819, and the explicit language used upon that occasion, are amply 
sufficient to redeem the liberal theologians in America from the censure of concealing 
what they believe to be the truth : and the discussion excited by this eloquent address 
cannot fail to be greatly conducive to the cause of free inquiry and the propagation of 
Christian knowledge. 



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CHAPTER X. 

ACCOUNT OF THE NEW COLLEGE AT HACKNEY. THE AUTHORS 
INTRODUCTION TO, AND INTIMACY WITH, MR. LINDSEY AND 
DR. PRIESTLEY. LONDON UNITARIAN SOCIETY. WESTERN 
UNITARIAN SOCIETY. REV. TIMOTHY KENRICK. UNITARIAN 
FUND SOCIETY. 

From this long but I trust not irrelevant nor uninteresting di- 
gression concerning the present state of the Unitarian doctrine 
in America, it is now time to return to the venerable subject of 
the present Memoir. 

In the year 1786, the Dissenting Academical Institutions at 
Exeter, Warrington, and Hoxton, having been lately dissolved, 
and no place of education for Dissenting ministers remaining 
where freedom of inquiry upon theological questions was allowed, 
excepting that at Daventry, which was by no means equal to supply 
the demands of the Nonconformist churches, some gentlemen in 
London formed a plan for erecting an Academical Institution in 
the vicinity of London for the purposes of general education, and to 
supersede the necessity of sending the sons of Dissenting parents 
to the English Universities, where they are under an obligation of 
subscribing to articles which they do not believe, and of attending 
upon forms of worship which they do not approve. The design 
was generous and noble; and it could not have failed to produce 
the most beneficial and permanent effects, had the wisdom of - the 
execution been proportionate to the beneficence of the plan, and 
to the disinterested liberality, the zeal, and the public spirit of 
the original founders. The Dissenters through the country took 
up the case most warmly, and subscribed most liberally ; so that, 
if the sums raised had been judiciously applied, an institution 
might have been founded and endowed which would have bid 
defiance to opposition and calumny, and the duration of which 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



187 



would have been equal with that of the nation. Some have 
objected to its vicinity to London : but the true and conclusive 
answer to this is^ that other very flourishing Academical Institu- 
tions have existed, and do exist, in the vicinity of the metropolis : 
there is, therefore, no impossibility, physical or moral, why an 
Institution of this kind, established upon liberal principles, and 
aided by a vigorous system of discipline, might not have been 
equally successful. And the advantages of the vicinity of Lon- 
don are obvious and numerous, particularly as it affords the 
greatest facility of obtaining the best means of instruction in 
every art and science. If the funds of the Institution had been 
permanently established and economically applied, any error, 
however great, in the internal management might have been 
corrected without affecting its existence. It was a grand experi- 
ment ; in the conduct of which it might reasonably be expected 
that, from the want of experience, errors would arise without any 
imputation of blame to individuals. And from my own know- 
ledge of the case, having been personally connected with the 
Institution for the last seven years of its existence, I will presume 
to say that it did not fail from any deficiency in attention or zeal, 
either on the part of the committees or the tutors. The spirit 
of the times was against the Institution ; and the mania of the 
French Revolution, which began so well and ended so ill, pervaded 
all ranks of society, and produced a general spirit of insubordina- 
tion. The ferment of the times gave birth to insidious and even 
to daring attacks upon natural and revealed religion, which pro- 
duced mischievous effects upon uninformed and undisciplined 
minds. And the founders of the Institution, with the best inten- 
tions in the world, introduced a principle which they held up to 
the public as the peculiar and distinguishing excellence of the 
plan, and which was to render this Institution paramount in dis-. 
cipline and order to all others; but which, in fact, sapped the 
very foundation of all discipline, and was the bane of all salutary 
authority, viz., that a superintending committee should be always 
at hand to watch over the conduct of the students, and to support 
the authority of the tutors. This regulation, in fact, left the 



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tutors totally destitute of all authority ; for whatever happened 
amiss, they had no other power to rectify but by an appeal to this 
committee. Every one who is in the least degree acquainted with 
the dispositions of young men, must see at once that such a con- 
stitution is directly and necessarily productive of anarchy. And 
in fact it did produce it to a considerable degree ; and it was 
owing to the principles and habits which many of the students 
brought with them to the college, that this spirit was not more 
prevalent. 

Yet, after all, everything might have been rectified had the 
funds been properly managed. The principal, and in truth the 
only, cause of the failure of the Institution was the unfortunate 
purchase of the estate at Hackney, which involved the committee 
in an expense of building and a load of debt, which the funds of 
the Institution never were, nor could have been able to support. 
The creditors became clamorous, and it was necessary to sell the 
estate to great disadvantage in order to pay off the debt. 

The principal of this debt has been long since discharged ; and 
by the accumulating interest of the residuary funds, during the 
suspension of the Institution, under the management of the 
worthy and respectable treasurer, John Towgood, Esq., a sum has 
been raised sufficient to discharge the interest of the debts, and to 
relieve the College honourably and faithfully from every just demand 
upon its assets. A considerable permanent fund still remains, 
agreeably to the resolution of the General Meeting, July 1, 1786,* 

* The resolution is expressed in the following words, extracted from the minutes 
annexed to the discourse delivered by Dr. Price, in April, 1787, before the supporters of 
the College, viz. : " That one-third of the present and future donations, benefactions, and 
bequests to the new Academical Institution in the neighbourhood of London, the 
same not being annual subscriptions, shall go to create a Permanent Fund, the capital 
whereof shall be preserved for ever inviolable and inalienable, in the hands of 
Trustees." A subsequent resolution purports, " That the annual income arising from 
the Permanent Fund shall alone be paid from time to time as it arises towards the 
support of the said institution, in such manner as the General Committee shall 
direct. Or if the said institution shall at any time hereafter be dissolved, or be 
discontinued for the space of three years, to the founding or to the support of any 
other academical institution, or of any institution preparatory to such among the 
Protestant Dissenters for the liberal education of youth in any part of England or 
Wales: or in giving exhibitions to students for the ministry, or in supporting one 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



189 



which is now vested in public securities in the names of four 
trustees; the dividends upon which are applied by them to the 
purposes for which that fund was appropriated. 

Of this Institution, Mr. Lindsey was from the beginning a 
sincere well-wisher and an active and liberal supporter : no one 
more ardently desired its success, nor did any one more sincerely 
lament the circumstances which led to its suspension. 

It was his connection with this Institution which first intro- 
duced the writer of this Memoir into an intimacy with the 
revered friend who is the subject of it. As a minister whose 
principles were known to" be what is commonly called Evangelical, 
the author of this Memoir had been appointed, in the year 1781, 
Theologial Tutor in the Academy at Daventry, which was a con- 
tinuation of the Academy under the late pious and celebrated Dr. 
Doddridge at Northampton, and was supported by the trustees of 
the late William Coward, Esq., who bequeathed a considerable 
estate for the education of Dissenting ministers, and for other 
religious purposes.* The office of pastor of the Independent 

or more tutors at any such institution or institutions within the same limits as the 
General Committee shall direct." 

As the annual subscriptions have been discontinued for many years, the only 
persons who now have any interest in or control over the funds of the institution are 
the Life-Governors, out of whose donations the Permanent Fund has been formed. 

* William Coward, Esq., was a merchant in London, a man of large property, and 
a zealous Calvinist. He left his great fortune to pious purposes, intending, however, 
that it should be limited to the support of the Calvinistic doctrine. But the 
professional gentleman who drew up the will, who was a man of great talent and 
liberality, expressed it in such terms as to leave the trustees at full liberty to apply it 
to the support of whatever they might judge to be the cause of Christ among 
Protestant Dissenters. The trustees consist of three Dissenting ministers and one lay 
gentleman ; and when a vacancy occurs, the survivors appoint a successor ; and this 
important trust has always hitherto been filled by persons of high respectability. For 
many years th s fund supported two very respectable and flourishing institutions for 
the education of Dissenting mini ters ; one in the vicinity of London, first under the 
direction of Dr. David Jennings, and afterwards of Dr. Savage, and Dr. Kippis, and 
Dr. Rees ; the other in the country, first at Northampton, under the care of Dr. 
D ddridge, and afterwards at Daventry, under Dr. Ashworth, the Rev. T. Robins, and 
finally the writer of this Memoir. And it was during this inteival that Mr. Coward's 
trust was in the meridian of its glory. To them the whole Dissenting interest 'ooked 
up as its patrons and benefactors; and from one or ot^er of their institutions most of 
the respectable congregations were supplied with well-educated ministers. Indeed, it 
may be questioned whether more good has ever been done for so great a length of time 
at so moderate an expense. For though they exerted themselves to the utmost of the 
powers with which they were vested, the allowance which they were able to make to 



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congregation at Daventry was at that time held in connection 
with the office of divinity tutor, and to this he was also invited. 
The Unitarian controversy, revived with so much animation by 
the writings of Mr. Lindsey and Dr. Priestley, and brought home 
so closely to the feelings by the truly christian and disinterested 
conduct of the former in the resignation of his vicarage, was at 
that time in its zenith. And the tutor regarding it as a question 
of the highest importance, conceiving it to be his duty to state it 
fairly before the theological students, and observing that the 
question concerning the simple humanity of Christ, which was 
now become the great controversy of the age, was scarcely glanced 
at in Dr. Doddridge's Lectures, which were the text-book of the 
Institution, he determined to draw up a new course of lectures 
upon the subject. And to this he was impelled by an additional 
motive, namely, the hope of putting a speedy termination to this 
newly-revived controversy ; since whatever respect he entertained 
for the abilities, the learning, and the character of the great 
champions of the Unitarian faith, he felt a perfect confidence that 
their arguments would be found capable of an easy and satisfac- 
tory reply ; and, whatever might be the errors of his own 
education, he had been happily instructed and firmly fixed in 
the grand principle that freedom of investigation must ultimately 
be favourable to truth. The method which he pursued in 
instituting this inquiry he has detailed at large in another place. 
It is, therefore, sufficient at present to mention that he first 
selected all the texts of the New Testament upon which the 

the tutors was never such as to enable them to make any considerable provision for 
their families, never amount' ng, T believe, upon an average, including board, tutors' 
salaries, house-rent, &c, to more than SOL a-head for each pupil, and in the country not 
so much. But there was no complaint, and the tutors performed the duties of their 
office with cheerfulness, looking for remuneration of a different kind, having never 
entered upon the Dissenting ministry with the expectation of aggrandizing their 
fortune. In the year, 1785, upon the resignation of the tutors of the Hoxton 
Academy, Mr. Coward s trustees, feeling the support of two institutions as a burden 
too oppressive, determined upon uniting them together at Daventry, under the charge of 
the writer of this Memoir, under whose direction the united institution remained till 
his resignation in 1789 ; after which it was placed for some years under the care of the 
Rev. John Horsley, at Northampton ; and upon his resignation it was removed to 
Wymondely, in Hertfordshire. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



191 



controversy is allowed to depend ; most certainly not omitting 
any which appeared to him favourable to the pre-existence and 
divinity of Jesus Christ. These he arranged under distinct 
heads ; and under each text he introduced the explanations 
of the most approved commentators of the Trinitarian, Arian, 
Socinian, and Unitarian hypotheses, very rarely introducing any 
theological comments of his own, choosing rather to leave the 
remarks of the different expositors to make their own impression 
upon the minds of his pupils. The labour was considerable ; but 
it was not thought burdensome either by the teacher or the 
learner ; the consciousness of honest unbiassed inquiry, and the 
gradual opening of light, was ample compensation for all. But 
the result was widely different from w r hat had been expected. 
First, the pupils, whose ingenuous minds, not so firmly bound by 
prejudice, were more open to conviction, began to discard the 
errors of education ; and some of them, much' to the regret of 
their worthy friends, and not least to that of their tutor, became 
decided Unitarians. The tutor's habits of thinking were more 
firmly riveted ; and though from the beginning of the inquiry he 
was a little surprised at discovering so few direct, and, as he 
thought, unequivocal, assertions of his favourite doctrine, and 
though in the process of his labours he found himself obliged to 
abandon one text because it was spurious, another because it 
admitted of a different and more probable interpretation, and so 
on, and was thus driven by degrees out of his strongholds; yet 
such was the ascendency which the associations of education had 
obtained over his mind, that he does not believe it would have been 
in the power of argument to have subdued it, had not the nature 
of his office, which made it necessary for him to repeat the 
lectures to successive classes, and which thereby compelled his 
attention again and again to the subject, eventually, and almost 
imperceptibly, overruled his original prepossessions, and brought 
him over to the faith to which he had certainly no previous 
partiality, to the profession of which he had no interest to induce 
him, and which he had fondly flattered himself that he should 



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MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



without much difficulty have overthrown. Those who have never 
changed their opinions, who are not much in the habit of inquiry, 
or who have not watched the vacillations of the mind when it is 
deliberating upon subjects of high importance, when it is 
anxious to form a correct judgment, when much depends upon 
the decision, and when it once begins to suspect as erroneous 
what it has long regarded as sacred and essential truth, may 
wonder that the teacher should be so long in making up his own 
mind, and that he should not be able to mark the day and the 
hour of his conversion. The fact is, that he was not himself 
aware of it, till, upon the repetition of a sermon which he had 
preached a few years before, and in which the pre-existence of 
Christ and its concomitant doctrines were assumed as facts, he 
found himself so embarrassed from beginning to end by his 
sceptical doubts, that he determined from that time to desist 
from teaching what he now first discovered that he no longer 
believed. This was in the autumn of 1788. And conceiving 
that, his mind being now made up upon the subject, it was his 
duty no longer to hold his peace, but to bear his public testimony 
to the truth ; and at the same time being conscious that he no 
longer possessed the qualifications which were deemed essential to 
the offices he sustained, and regarding it as both unhandsome and 
unjust to put his friends under the disagreeable necessity of dismiss- 
ing him from his office, which they probably would have thought it 
their duty to do ; at least, being fully persuaded that it was right 
to give them their option in the case, he determined to resign 
both the Academy and the congregation. His resignation of the 
former he sent in to the trustees in January, 1789, requesting 
them to keep it concealed till March, as it would be impossible 
for him to leave his situation till Midsummer ; and he had no 
desire to make himself the topic of conversation till it became 
absolutely necessary. The trustees, with great propriety, ex- 
pressed their acceptance of the resignation, in a respectful letter 
of form by the late excellent and benevolent Joseph Paice, Esq., 
the lay trustee, accompanied with a kind, affectionate, sympathetic 



REVEREND THEGPHILUS LINDSEY. 



193 



letter of his own — like himself.* Nor were the rest of the 
trustees deficient in expressions of sympathy and friendship. 

In March, 1789, the writer of this Memoir went up to London 
to officiate at the crdinat'on of his friendjand pupil the Rev. 
Edmund Butcher, f at Leather Lane, and for a few days he resided 
in lodgings in Essex Street. It was upoa this occasion that he 
took the liberty of introducing himself to the venerable patriarch 
of the Unitarian church. His visit w 7 as short : as a stranger he 
was received with the politeness and benignity which w r ere in- 
separable from Mr. Lindsey ; but nothing confidential passed. It 
was a visit of form, perhaps it may be said of curiosity, not, it is 
hoped, wholly unwarrantable in the new r proselyte to see the holy 
confessor and champion of truth, whose doctrine he had embraced, 
and whose dignified example he had endeavoured, in his humble 
measure, to follow. But his intended resignation was not then 
known; and he did not choose to be the first nolifier of it to this 
excellent man. While he continued with Mr. Lindsey, a gentle- 
man came in, who, without knowing the stranger present, an- 
nounced to Mr. Lindsey that the ordination was to take place at 
which that stranger was to officiate. Upon this solemnity Mr. 
Lindsey attended : but no further personal intercourse passed 
between them while the writer of this Memoir continued in town ; 
and he returned into the country gratified with the opportunity 

* Of this gentleman, so long and so well known in London, and so highly- 
esteemed for his amiable manners, his unimpeachable integrity, and his unbounded, 
disinterested, and almost romantic benevolence, an elegant Memoir was printed by his 
intimate friend and executor, James Gibson, Esq., addressed to Mr. Gibson's only 
child. Mr. Paice was a Dissenter upon principle; and for many years a distinguished 
ornament of the highly respectable congregation at Carter Lane, under the pastoral care 
of Mr. Pickard, and Mr. Tayler, and now of the Eev. Joseph Barrett. He was 
eminently pious, and of a truly catholic spirit. He died on the fourth of September, 
1810, and on the 16th of the same month, an excellent and impressive discourse was 
delivered upon the occasion by the Eev. T. Tayler, at Carter Lane, before a numerous, 
respectable and much-affected auditor} 7- , at whose request it was given to the public. 

+ This gentleman in the course of a few years was obliged to resign his office on 
account of ill health and the weakness of his voice. Happily, by the blessing of 
Divine Providence, on the use of proper means, he gradually recovered both. . He is 
now the respected and useful minister of a congregation of liberal Dissenters at Sid- 
mouth ; and having upon more mature investigation seen reason to abandon the system 
of Arianism, to which he was formerly much attached, he very honourably made a 
public profession of his conversion to the pure Unitarian doctrine, in a sermon preached 
before the Western Unitarian Society two years ago, 1810. 

O 



194 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



which he had enjoyed of visiting Exeter House, but little expect- 
ing that this interview would be introductory to the happy 
intimacy w T ith which he was afterwards honoured by its distin- 
guished inhabitants. 

For at that time Unitarianism was far from being a popular 
doctrine ; and the highest ambition of the tutor, when he quitted 
a connection which had existed for eight years, with great har- 
mony and comfort, and to which from principle and from habit 
he w T as fondly attached, was to reside in a cottage in the vicinity 
of Birmingham, where he had many kind and excellent friends, 
and where he flattered himself that he should enjoy the society 
and the interesting and instructive conversation of Dr. Priestley. 
But Divine Providence ruled otherwise. It was thought by 
many of the respectable friends and supporters of the New 
College at Hackney that his labours might be of use to that 
rising Institution. Some, indeed, of the old school objected to 
the new proselyte ; and his own expectations of usefulness or of 
comfort, in a situation so materially different from that which he 
had left, were not sanguine. But being now in an unconnected 
and insulated state, he had nothing to lose, and he sacrificed 
nothing, though his labours might be in vain. He was urged by 
many respectable persons to embark in the undertaking. Many 
objections w T ere obviated, sacrifices made, and difficulties removed, 
to make room for him. Dr. Priestley and Mr. Lindsey both con- 
cuned in pressing his acceptance; and, what perhaps weighed 
more than all the rest, a prospect was opened, by residing in 
the neighbourhood of London, of cultivating the friendship of 
Mr. Lindsey. This, it must be confessed, was the favourite 
wish of his heart; and in the accomplishment of this wish 
his mind was completely gratified, and every sacrifice which 
he had been called upon to confer upon the altar of truth 
and integrity was compensated a hundred- fold. He settled at 
the College in August, 1789; and from that time his intimacy 
with the venerable subject of this Memoir commenced, and con- 
tinued without interruption or abatement till the end of his days. 
Two years afterwards, in the year 1791, Dr. Priestley, the most 



REVEREND THEOPHXLUS LINDSEY. 



195 



spotless and innocent of men, as well as the most sagacious 
of philosophers, and the most laborious and ingenuous of theo- 
logians, having been driven from his home by the insane riots 
at Birmingham, and having been invited to succeed his learned 
and virtuous friend Dr. Price in the pastoral care of the congre- 
gation at Hackney, he voluntarily and gratuitously undertook to 
deliver to the students at the College his admirable lectures upon 
history and chemistry. This was the consummation of every wish 
which the writer of this Memoir could form for intellectual, 
moral, and social felicity and improvement. To be received into 
the familiar intercourse and admitted to share the confidence of 
these venerable men, whose honourable exertions and generous 
sacrifices in the cause of truth had placed them so much above 
the level of ordinary characters, and even of celebrated divines, 
was a blessing to which he had indeed earnestly aspired, but the 
enjoyment of which he had never ventured to anticipate. Few 
days passed without some personal intercourse with one or other 
of these estimable men, and often with both. And the usual 
topics of conversation, besides the great events of the time which 
arrested everyone's attention, were some subject in theology, 
some passage of Scripture, the elucidation of some point of doc- 
trine, the solution of some objection, the present slow progress of 
Christian truth, the anticipation of a day of greater light and 
knowledge, and happiness and peace. The friends did not entirely 
agree in opinion upon all points ; but the discussions, sometimes 
animated, were always amicable, for all were lovers of truth, and 
they sought after no other object. To discover truth was to gain 
the victory. 

How oft did they talk down the summer's sun, 

How often thawed and shortened winter's eve, 

By conflict kind, that struck out latent truth ! * 
* It is pleasing to see that the society which was so truly interesting to the writer of 
the Memoir, contributed, in a considerable degree, to the gratification of the other 
parties. Upon this subject Dr. Priestley thus expresses himself in the Memoir of his 
Life, p. 107 : — 

" On the whole, I spent my time even more happily at Hackney than I had ever 
done before ; having every advantage for my philosophical and theological studies, in 
some respect superior to what I had enjoyed at Birmingham, especially from my easy 
access to Mr. Lindsey, and my frequent intercourse with Mr. Belsham, Professor of 
Livinity in the New College, near which I lived. Never, on this side the grave, do I 

o 2 



198 



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But this felicity was too pure to last : and in a short time these 
two eminent veterans, in the service, whose friendship had been the 
growth of thirty years, and whose writings had, for the greater 
part of that time, been the food and sustenance of the revived 
primitive Unitarian Church, were destined to be separated, never 
to see each other's face again. But of this more hereafter. 

In the year 1791 was formed the Unitarian Society for Pro- 
moting Christian Knowledge and the Practice of Virtue by the 
Distribution of Books. The object of this Society was two-fold : — - 
the first was, that the few who then professed the unpopular doc- 
trine of the unrivalled supremacy of God, and that the Father 
alone is to be worshipped, and the simple humanity of Jesus 
Christ, might have some common bond of union, that they 
might know and support one another, and that they might 
thus publish their profession to the world, and excite that serious 
inquiry w r hich would lead to the diffusion of truth. The second 
object of the Society was, to print and circulate, at a cheap 
rate, books which were judged to be best calculated to propagate 
right views of the Christian doctrine, and to apply it to the 
direction of the practice. It was proposed at first to combine 
this Society with that for promoting the Knowledge of the Scrip- 
tures, of which some account has been already given. But this 
combination was opposed by Mr. Lindsey and Dr. Priestley, who 
thought it best that the Societies should be kept distinct; and as 
the writer of this Memoir was the person who first suggested the 
plan, it was allotted to him to draw up the preamble to the rules. 
And as the object of the Society was by no means to collect a 
great number of subscribers, but chiefly to form an association of 
those who thought it right to lay aside all ambiguity of language, 
and to make a solemn public profession of their belief in the 
proper Unity of God and of the simple humanity of Jesus Christ, 
in opposition both to the Trinitarian doctrine of Three Persons 
in the Deity and to the xirian hypothesis of a created Maker, 

expect to enjoy myself so much as I did by the fireside of Mr. Lindsey, conversing 
with him and Mrs. Lindsey on theological and other subjects ; or in my frequent walks 
with Mr. Belsham, whose views of most important subjects were, like Mr. Lindsey's, 
the same with my own." 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



197 



Preserver, and Governor of the worlds it was judged expedient to 
express this article in the preamble in the most explicit manner. 
This was objected to by some, as narrowing too much the ground 
of the Society, which, as they thought, ought to be made as exten- 
sive as possible. But the objection was easily overruled, it being 
the main intention and design of the Society to make a solemn, 
public, and explicit avowal of what in the estimation of its mem- 
bers was Christian truth ; to enter a protest against the errors of 
the day; to unite those who held the same principles, and who 
were scattered up and down in different parts of the country, in 
one common bond of union ; and to encourage them to hold fast 
their profession, and to stand by and support one another. 

A much more plausible objection against the preamble was urged 
from the introduction of the word idolatrous. The obnoxious 
sentence is thus expressed : u While, therefore, many well-mean- 
ing persons are propagating with zeal opinions which the members 
of this Society judge to be unscriptural and idolatrous, they think 
it their duty to oppose the further progress of such pernicious 
errors, and publicly to avow their firm attachment to the doctrine 
of the Unity of God, of his unrivalled and undivided authority 
and dominion/' &c. Now, as the proper definition of idolatry is 
the worship of a being who is not truly God, and more especially 
the worship of a deified man, nothing can be more evident than 
that the worship of Christ must, in the estimation of Unitarians, 
be in that sense idolatrous; and no persons are more ready to 
allow this consequence than Trinitarians themselves are, upon the 
supposition that their doctrine is erroneous. Yet nothing appears 
to give greater offence than the use of this epithet by the Uni- 
tarians, though they adopt it chiefly to excite the attention of their 
fellow-christians to the importance of the question ; and are at the 
same time solicitous to point out the wide difference between 
Christian and Pagan idolatry ; the former being solely an error 
of judgment, upon the culpability of which they presume not to 
decide ; while the other is essentially connected with the mcst 
odious vices, is branded in Scripture with the most contemptuous 
epithets, and justly threatened with the most awful punishments. 



198 



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The introduction of this expression into the preamble gave very 
great offence to many of the friends of the infant Institution* 
and it was very seriously debated whether it should be retained 
or not. Perhaps it might have been prudent to omit it, as the 
doctrine which the Society desired to hold forth as their common 
faith might have been expressed with equal distinctness and pre- 
cision without it. But as it had been introduced, many were 
unwilling to abandon it : they even considered the omission of it 
as little less than a dereliction of principle. Among these were 
Mr. Lindsey 5 Dr. Priestley, Mr. Russel, of Birmingham; and 
Mr. Tayleur, of Shrewsbury. On the other side were some 
gentlemen of Cambridge and elsewhere, whose names would have 
been an ornament to the Society, but who either declined joining 
it, or withdrew from it when they heard that it was decided to 
retain the offensive epithet. And, in fact, some who still con- 
tinued in the Society were not well pleased with the expression, 
which they regarded as having a tendency to fix an opprobrium 
upon their fellow-christians.* 

* As the preamble to the Rules of the Unitarian Society is not of any great length, 
and has been the subject of much discussion, it may not be amiss to introduce it in 
this place : 

" Christianity, proceeding from God, must be of infinite importance ; and a more 
essential service cannot be rendered to mankind, than to advance the interests of truth 
and virtue; to promote peace, liberty, and good order in society ; to accelerate the im- 
provement of the species ; and to "exalt the character and secure the greatest ultimate 
happiness of individuals, by disseminating the right principles of religion, and by excit- 
ing the attention of men to the genuine doctrines of revelation. 

" This is the chief object of The Unitarian Society for promoting Christian 
Knowledge and the Practice of Virtue, by distributing such books as appears to 
the members of the Society to contain the most rational views of the Gospel, and to be 
most free from the errors by which it has most been sullied and obscured. Error, 
voluntary or involuntary, so iar as it extends, must have a pernicious influence. The 
members of this Society think, therefore, that they are doing signal service to the cause 
of truth and good morals, by endeavouring to clear the Christian system from all 
foreign incumbrances, and by representing the doctrines of revelation in their primitive 
simplicity. Truth must ultimately be serviceable to virtue. 

"The fundamental principles of this Society are, That there is but One God, the 
sole Former, Supporter, and Governor of the universe, the only proper object of reli- 
gious worship ; and that there is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ 
Jesus, who was commissioned by God to instruct men in their duty, and to reveal the 
doctrine of a future life. 

"The beneficial influence of these truths upon the moral conduct of men will be in 
proportion to the confidence with which they are received into the mind, and the 
attention with which they are regarded. Consequently, all foreign opinions which 
men have attached to this primitive system of Christian doctrine, and which tend to 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



199 



The first annual dinner of the Unitarian Society was held at 
the King's Head, in the Poultiy, in April, 1791 : the number 
assembled was between forty and fifty : among these w r ere Mr. 
Lindsey, Dr. Priestley, Dr. Kippis, &c., and several eminent 
political characters were also present who were not members of 
the Society. It was at a time when the French Revolution was 
in its glory, when it excited the highest hopes, and when its sac- 
cess was the object of the most cordial wishes of the best friends 
to civil and religious liberty in this country. Mr. Burke had 
published his celebrated book six months before ; and Dr. 
Priestley and Mr. (now Sir James) Mackintosh and others had 
written or were preparing answers to it. The subject so occupied 
the public attention, that it almost engrossed the conversation in 
every company. Unfortunately, upon this occasion many political 
toasts were given ; and; amongst others, " Mr. Burke, and thanks 
to him for the discussion which he has provoked." And still 
more unfortunately for the Society, they were published the next 
day in some of the morning papers, from which they were trans- 
ferred into the Moniteur and other French journals. The right 

divert their thoughts from these fundamental principles, are in a degree injurious to the 
cause of religi n and virtue. While, therefore, ma iy well-meaning persons are propa- 
gating with zeal opinions which the members of this Society judge to be unscriptural 
and idolatrous, they think it their duty to oppose the further progress of such per- 
nicious errors, and publicly to avow their firm attachment to the doctrine of the Unity 
of God, of His unrivalled and undivided authority and dominion; and their belief 
that Jesus Christ, the most distinguished of the prophets, is the creature and mes- 
senger of God, and not his equal nor his vicegerent in the formation and gove n- 
ment of the world, nor co-partner with him in divine honours, as some have strangely 
supposed. And they are desirous to try the experiment, whether the cause of true 
religion and virtue may not be most effect: 'ally promoted upon proper Unitarian prin- 
ciples ; and whether the plain unadulterated truths of Christianity, when fairly taught 
and inculcated, be not of themselves suffkie' t to form the minds of those who sincerely 
embrace them to that true dignity and excellence of character to which the gospel was 
intended to elevate them. 

" Rational Christians have hitherto been too cautious of publicly acknowledging their 
principles, and this disgraceful timidity has been prejudicial to the progress of truth 
and virtue. It is now high time that the friends of genuine Christianity should stand 
forth and avow themselves. The number of such, it is hoped, will be found to be much 
greater than many apprehend. And the : r example, if accompanied with, and recom- 
mended by, a correspondent purity of life and morals, will naturally attract the atten- 
tion of others, and produce that freedom of inquiry, that liberal discussion, and that 
fearless profession of principles embraced after due examination, which can be formid- 
able to nothing but to error and vice, and which must eventually be subservient to the 
cause of truth and virtue, and to the best interest- of man ind." 



200 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



honourable gentleman whose name had been introduced with such 
distinction animadverted upon the meeting the next day in the 
House of Commons with great indignation. And twelve months 
afterwards, when a petition was presented to the House, which, 
though it originated with the Unitarian Society, had been signed 
by persons of all persuasions, Churchmen and Dissenters, for the 
repeal of the penal laws relating to religion ; though it was intro- 
duced and supported by Mr. Fox with all his super-eminent powers 
of reason and eloquence, it was most vehemently opposed by Mr. 
Burke, who made the house merry, and at the same time alarmed 
their prejudices, by reading and commenting upon the toasts 
which had been given at the dinner, and which he, with some 
humour, described as the articles of the Unitarian creed. This faux 
pas of the Society at its commencement, in mixing politics with 
religion, gave much and reasonable offence to many of its friends 
and absent members, and induced the Society afterwards to hold 
their meetings more privately, to decline all publicity in their 
proceedings, and to determine that, as a body formed upon a 
religious principle and directed solely to a religious object, they 
would not intermeddle with temporary politics. 

This Society, the dawn of which was thus ushered in with clouds, 
soon emerged from its obscurity. It was joined by numbers of high 
respectability in different^ parts of the kingdom, who were not 
afraid or ashamed to be enrolled in the catalogue of Christians 
who were the avow T ed worshippers of the One God, the Father, 
through the one Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ 
Jesus. And the success of the Society, thus constituted, greatly 
exceeded the most sanguine expectations of those by whom it 
was originally formed. It made Unitarians known to one another. 
It diffused the doctrines of uncorrupted Christianity, by the ex- 
tensive circulation of books which were calculated to check the 
progress of popular errors. It encouraged the public profession 
of these long-neglected truths. And, what was of the greatest 
importance, it gave birth to many similar societies in different 
parts of the country, some of which are in a state as prosperous, 
or even more more so, than the London Society itself. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



201 



The first of these affiliated societies was the Western Unitarian 
Society, which was formed under the auspices of that truly excel- 
lent man, the late Reverend Timothy Kenrick, of Exeter, a gen- 
tleman equally distinguished by the soundness of his judgment, 
the accuracy of his learning, the piety and rectitude of his 
character, and the warmth and inflexibility of his zeal in the 
cause of truth, virtue, and liberty. Having after long and 
rigorous inquiry seen reason to adopt the doctrine of the proper 
humanity of Jesus Christ and the unrivalled supremacy of the 
Father, he regarded it as an imperious duty to bear his testimony 
to the truth, to communicate the light which he had received, 
and to eradicate from the miuds of the people of his charge the 
deeply-rooted errors which they had derived from the writings and 
instructions of the learned Peirce and the venerable Towgood, of 
a second and inferior God, a delegated Creator, Preserver, and 
Governor of the Universe. This erroneous and unscnptural 
doctrine Mr. Kenrick gradually undermined by judicious dis- 
courses and plain and practical expositions from the pulpit, and 
attacked still more directly in the familiar lectures which he 
delivered to the young men of his congregation, and by the forma- 
tion and zealous support of the Western Unitarian Society. He 
saw with much regret that few young persons were in a train of 
education for the Christian ministry among the rational Dissenters. 
And he himself opened an institution for that purpose at Exeter, 
in connection with the Reverend Joseph Bretland, and received 
students into his family, gave up his time and labour to their 
instruction, and boarded them upon terms from which it was 
impossible for him to gain anything. He can hardly be said 
to have done justice to his own family in thus expending 
his time, his talents, his vigour, and even his substance, with so 
little prospect of adequate remuneration. But this was to him, an 
object of light consideration, in comparison with the great end 
he had constantly in view — the diffusion of Christian truth, and the 
extrication of the Christian doctrine from the mass of rubbish in 
which it has been for many centuries overwhelmed. In this great 
work he met with much opposition ; with opposition from those 



202 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



who, from early habit and education, were sincerely and zealously 
attached to the errors which he was labouring to eradicate, and 
who of course believed it to be their duty to oppose him in all his 
measures ; and with opposition from some wise men of the world, 
who, though their opinions perhaps were not much at variance 
with his own, did not think it prudent to excite religious dis- 
sensions and to give public offence ; arguing in the same way, 
and acting upon the same principles, as the first opposers of the 
Reformation, and even of Christianity itself. Mr. Kenrick's 
vigorous mind was in no respect daunted by this opposition ; but 
persevering in his object with inflexible resolution, he ultimately 
obtained complete success. It pleased the Almighty, in his 
mysterious providence, to put a stop to this excellent man's 
exertions by an awful and unexpected stroke in the midst of his 
career. While in full possession of his health and faculties, and 
rejoicing in the increasing success of his pious and benevolent 
schemes, he was suddenly cut off by an apoplectic seizure at 
Wrexham, in Denbighshire, August 22, 1804, in the forty-fifth 
year of his age. The success of Mr. Kenrick's labours in his 
congregation appeared by their choice of a successor of similar 
ability and zeal in promoting the same great and good cause of 
Christian truth, the Reverend Dr. Lant Carpenter — and in his 
Academical Institution by the reverence and affection in which 
his name and character are held by his pupils, and by their zeal 
and usefulness in the respectable stations which they occupy in 
the Dissenting churches. The Western Unitarian Society has 
continued to flourish since Mr. Kenrick's decease, and Arianism 
seems to be nearly expelled from one of her strongest citadels. 
Mr. Kenrick left three sons, the eldest of them, after his father's 
decease, passed a few years at Birmingham under the tuition of 
the Reverend John Kentish, his father's friend ; and, having 
afterwards finished a brilliant career at the University of Glasgow, 
is now settled as a tutor in the College at York, an Institution 
of deservedly high reputation, under the able direction of the 
Reverend Charles Wellbeloved. And at this Institution Mr. 
Kenrick's youngest son is in a course of education for the 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LTNDSEY. 



203 



ministry.* Two volumes of posthumous Sermons and three of 
Exposition of the Evangelists, published at the desire of his 
congregation, are ample proofs how well qualified the learned and 
pious author was to teach the pure, uncorrupted doctrine of Christ. 
Let the reader pardon what it is hoped may be considered as a 
not totally irrelevant digression, which the author has introduced 
to testify his respect and veneration for one in whose education he 
had the honour to sustain no inconsiderable share, and with whom 
he had afterwards the happiness to be connected as a colleague, a 
friend, and a brother. 

His saltern accumi^em donis, et fungar inani 
Munere. 

The Southern Unitarian Society was formed soon after the 
Western, and a few years afterwards the Northern and other 
similar societies. These gave birth to Unitarian Tract Societies 
in different parts of the kingdom, the design of which was to 
distribute small tracts for the purpose of diffusing just principles 
of religion among the inferior classes of society. With these 
have been united what are called Christian Tract Societies, which 
are intended to spread among the inferior classes interesting little 
compositions wholly practical and entirely unconnected with con- 
troversy. These societies have met with great encouragement, 
and many have contributed to them who by no means agree in 
sentiment with the original founders of these useful associations. 
But the Society which at present holds the foremost rank, and 
engages the most general and the warmest support of the 
Unitarian body, is that which is called the Unitarian Fund 
Society; the professed object of which is to encourage popular 
preaching, and to engage missionaries to visit different parts of 
the country, and, wherever there is an opening, to preach pure 
and uncorrupted Christianity in opposition to popular and prevail- 
ing errors. Some of the ministers employed in these missions, 

* The Reverend George Kenrick is now (1820) settled with a respectable con- 
gregation at Hull, where he is discharging his official duties with a zeal and activity 
worthy of the descendant of such a father. 



204 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



though not possessing the advantage of regular education, are 
men of very popular talents and very extensive information ; and 
by the great success with which their labours have been attended 
they have abundantly proved that simple unsophisticated truth 
has charms to captivate even the most ordinary minds, when it is 
exhibited to them in a clear and affecting light, and have demon- 
strated the fallacy of the commonly received opinion that Uni- 
tarianism is not a religion for the common people. This being a 
new experiment, in which unlearned ministers were chiefly em- 
ployed, many of the more learned and regular members of the 
Unitarian body stood aloof, and declined to give countenance to a 
proceeding, of the prudence and propriety of which they stood in 
doubt. Some do not even yet approve it ; and others who wish 
well to the design do not regard it as within the field of their 
personal exertions. But after the success which has attended the 
efforts of this Society, no person who is a real friend to the cause 
can consistently be hostile to its principle. How far the venerable 
patriarch of Unitarianism, who is the subject of this Memoir, 
would have patronised a society of this description, cannot now 
be ascertained. That he was in the highest degree favourable to 
the main object of it, is evident from the following extract from a 
letter to a friend, dated October 23, 1789: "I find that your 
son's account of the Unitarian street-preachers is true, and that 
he was with Dr. Priestley at Manchester when he saw them. It 
will be very desirable to have their numbers increased. We want 
much to have the common people applied to, as enough has been 
done, and is continually doing, for the learned and the higher 
ranks. - " 

The parent Institution, the London Unitarian Society, still 
exists upon a very respectable footing ; and though its numbers 
may not be so large, nor its funds so ample, nor its proceedings 
attended with so much eclat, as those of some associations of 
later date, it still retains the honour of having set the first 
example of a society publicly professing Unitarian principles, and 
constituted with an avowed design of supporting and diffusing 
them. One of its main objects no longer exists. The title of 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



205 



Unitarian, then a terra of general reproach, is now, in consequence 
of the extensive diffusion of Unitarian principles, become a mark 
of honour, and is courted rather than shunned. The Society 
still continues to distribute, every year, a very considerable 
number of Unitarian books and tracts. And if its numbers 
should decline, of which however there is no immediate prospect, 
the members of the Society, whose only object is to promote the 
cause of truth, and who have no personal or party interest to 
consult, will rejoice to see it superseded by any institution which 
promises to be of greater utility to the general cause. 



CHAPTER XL 

ANALYSIS Of THE CONVERSATIONS UPON CHRISTIAN IDOLATRY. 
THE DUKE OF GRAFTON CORRESPONDS AND VISITS MR. 
LINDSEY, AND ATTENDS UNITARIAN WORSHIP, A BRIEF 
ACCOUNT OF THE PROGRESS OF THE DUKE's OPINIONS, AND 
OF HIS REASONS AND MOTIVES FOR SECEDING FROM THE 
ESTABLISHED FORM. REFLECTIONS. 

The introduction of the charge of idolatry into the Society's 
Preamble having been much misunderstood and given great 
offence • to obviate the objections, and to correct the error, Mr. 
Lindsey published a small work, in octavo, in 1792, entitled 
" Conversations upon Christian Idolatry/' The scene is laid in 
the house of Marcellinus^ a gentleman of .large fortune and 
great liberality of sentiment, and the conversation is supposed to 
have taken place in his library after breakfast, between himself; 
Volusian, an eminent barrister and moderate churchman ; Synesius, 
a person of great worth, who seldom attended public worship, 



206 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



but who was a zealous friend to a religious establishment ; and 
Photinus, an enlightened and zealous Unitarian, who writes an 
account of the conversations to his friend Victorin. And the 
author leads his reader to understand that the whole transaction 
had some foundation in fact. 

The dialogue begins with some severe animadversions upon the 
late disgraceful riots at Birmingham, the whole blame of which 
Marcellinus imputes to the operation of the Test Act, and other 
laws against the Dissenters ; but is interrupted by Volusian, who, 
w T hile he expresses his entire disapprobation of the Test Laws, and 
his indignation at the insults and injuries offered to Dr. Priestley, 
nevertheless expresses his suspicion, that " Dr. Priestley had 
contributed to excite the bad spirit which, however wrongly, had 
appeared against him ; " and particularly by his late sermon at 
Hackney, in which he had " bluntly and peremptorily declared 
the worship of Jesus Christ to be idolatrous." Marcellinus 
defends Dr. P. upon his own principles, and represents him as 
" worthy to be remembered as a benefactor to mankind, particu- 
larly for the light which he has thrown upon theological subjects." 
But Volusian, without impeaching his moral character, regards a 
restless love of novelty as " evidently his failing ;" and " having 
been bred up in the belief that Jesus Christ is God, and to be 
worshipped, he cannot endure the rudeness and impertinence of 
the man who tells him that he is an idolater. " Here Photinus 
interposes, and puts the question seriously to Volusian, " whether 
he had ever searched the Scriptures to know how many Gods 
there are, and whether Jesus Christ was one." This leads 
Volusian to the confession, that " he had not made the Scriptures 
his particular study ; " — that, " in general, these theological 
matters are left to be settled by the divines, those especially of 
the upper ranks ;" and that, " at his time of life, he had no 
leisure, and less relish, for such intricate inquiries." This 
confession introduces from Photinus a serious remonstrance, and 
an earnest exhortation to study the Scriptures for himself, in 
which he w r ould very soon attain entire satisfaction concerning the 
God he is to worship. This ends the first conversation. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LIXDSEY. 



207 



Volusian, much impressed with his friend^s advice, goes home 
for a week under pretence of business, but passes the greater part 
of his time in reading and studying the Scriptures with the 
greatest attention • in consequence of which he becomes a sincere 
proselyte to the faith, that there is but One God, the Father, the 
only proper Object of religious worship, and that Jesus Christ is 
the servant and faithful messenger of God, but not the object of 
worship ; and, upon his return, he embraces the earliest oppor- 
tunity of communicating his conversion to his friends. This 
constitutes the subject of the second day's conversation ; in 
which Yolusian is almost the only speaker, and details to his 
friends the principal arguments, both from the Old Testament 
and the New, by which he was led to the conviction that " God is 
strictly One, one person : and the blessed Jesus nothing but his 
favoured creature and servant." " Still, however wrong, he could 
not look upon himself as an idolater in the worship he had 
hitherto paid to Jesus Christ ; and though mistaken, he could 
not look upon himself to have been a wicked man, which that 
language implies." 

This, of course, forms the subject of the third day's conver- 
sation, in which Photinus replies at large to Yolusian's objection, 
that "idolatry is represented in the sacred writings as a heinous 
sin, an idea which he could not entertain of any who are sincere, 
however erroneous, in their worship of Jesus Christ." Photinus 
very justly remarks, that the idolatry against which the judg- 
ments of God were denounced, was that of the heathen a which 
was not a mere " speculative error, but attended with the most 
shocking vice and immorality whereas " nothing of this kind 
can be charged on the idolatrous worship of Christians, though 
the Almighty and Infinite Being is dishonoured and degraded by 
it." And in answer to the question of Yolusian, cc to show 
wherein their idolatry lies," he states, that " idolatry consists in 
paying divine honours to a creature;''' the doing which is a direct 
violation of the first commandment in the decalogue, which is 
not only not repealed, but is solemnly confirmed by Christ. If, 
therefore, Jesus Christ be a creature, " to call him God, and to 



208 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



worship [him, can be nothing less than idolatry." Synesius now 
interposing the observation, " that the members of the Church of 
England are not idolaters ; because, though charged with wor- 
shipping three Gods, they are themselves persuaded that they 
worship only L One/' Photinus replies, that " if men's own 
thoughts will exculpate them, there never was such a thing as 
idolatry in the world ; " for all idolaters, the worshippers, for 
example, of the Virgin Mary, are persuaded that their worship is 
allowed by God. " Our convictions concerning actions cannot 
make that right which is in itself wrong, though they will 
excuse us in doing it, in proportion to the insuperable ignorance 
under which we labour." And in answer to Volusian's expression 
of anxiety at the great prevalence of Christian idolatry, Photinus 
reminds his friends of the innocence of those who, through the 
errors of education/ are involuntarily involved in it; but adds, 
that " how far those are innocent who, believing Jesus Christ to 
be a creature, do, nevertheless, customarily join with others in the 
worship of him as the Supreme God, is a very serious question." 
He then observes, and produces some very remarkable instances 
to prove, that the most orthodox in our own country have had no 
scruple of terming the worship of Christ to be idolatrous if he be 
a creature ;* and after a few general remarks the conversation 
closes. 

The fourth conversation discusses the question which Volusian 
tells his friends presses with much weight upon his mind, viz., 
" how a person should act upon discovering that the established 

* See Waterland's Defence, p. 231, 252. Dr. Hughes' Sermon at Salter's Hall, 
vol. ii. p. 8. "Whitaker's Origin of Arianism, pp. 4, 5. The expressions of the last- 
cited author are very remarkable. " If," says he, u this doctrine of the Trinity be false, 
then nine-tenths of the Christians throughout every age, and every country, are guilty 
of idolatry, of idolatry more gross than that of the Papists at present ; because, not 
merely the worship of saints and angels in subordination to God, but the worship of a 
creature along with the Creator ; placing him equally with Gfod on the throne of the 
universe ; giving God a partner in his empire, and so deposing God from half his 
sovereignty." These are the words of a zealous Trinitarian : surely, then, it becomes 
every one who offers divine worship to Jesus Christ, well to consider the ground upon 
which he stands : much more does it become the decided believer in the proper Unity 
of the great Object of worship, to flee from that which must in his own estimation, 
and even in that of those who are themselves worshippers of Christ, be gross 
idolatry. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



209 



worship of the country in which he was bred, was idolatrous ? " 
Synesius gives it as his opinion, that public worship should be 
abandoned altogether. For " all right worship is in the heart, 
and the moment you mix with others in the worship of God, you 
are in danger of being misled by a thousand fancies, and idle 
superstitious forms and practices." Photinus, in reply, vindicates 
public worship as a duty, enjoined even by natural religion, to 
keep up the knowledge of him in ourselves and others, and to 
cherish in our breasts that attention to him which is necessary 
for our present right conduct and comfort, and to qualify us for 
his favour hereafter that it was expressly required under the 
Mosaic institution, and authorized by the example of Christ, and 
the practice of the apostles. Synesius, conceding this point to 
Photinus, contends, nevertheless, for joining in the established 
worship, " out of the general principle of doing homage to the 
Creator. If there be any which you cannot conscientiously join 
in and repeat, you have only to adopt what you like, and pass 
over the rest, leaving it to those who are edified by it." Photinus 
allows that, for lesser matters, it would be peevish and hyper- 
critical to dissent ; but he maintains, and he supports his argu- 
ment by the authority of Archdeacon Paley, that, with respect 
to the Object of worship, "there seems to be no latitude." And 
having been charged by Synesius with having spoken disrespect- 
fully of the public Liturgy, he expresses high approbation of it 
as an excellent form of prayer; but at the same time enters his 
strong protest against many parts of the Litany, in particular, 
" which is ordered to be read every Wednesday, Friday, and 
Sunday, throughout the year in which " a variety of beings are 
addressed in a manner utterly inconsistent with the first com- 
mandment ; and our Saviour, in particular, " is worshipped as the 
Supreme God ; and is addressed in such gross degrading lan- 
guage, as nothing but custom from early youth could reconcile 
any to use /' and he concludes his argument with asserting that 
all worship, excepting that addressed to the Supreme Being, is a 
direct violation of our Lord's express precept to his apostles, 
that they should teach men to observe all things whatsoever he 

P 



210 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



commanded them. Volusian, who, through the whole of this 
conversation had been a hearer only, now expresses his obligations 
to Synesius and Photinus for their temperate discussion of this 
important subject, and declares his entire conviction "that he 
can no longer with a quiet mind continue to frequent the worship 
of the Church of England, or say one thing with his mouth to 
the all-seeing God, while his heart and better knowledge mean 
another." Here the conversation ends. 

In the beginning of the next letter, Photinus describes to his 
correspondent Victorin, the rise and progress of idolatry in the 
Christian church, and represents how very imperfectly the 
Reformation recovered the great body of Christians from this 
enormous error. He then proceeds to relate the subjects of the 
fifth day's conversation, which Volusian begins with expressing 
his hope that the public sentiment would soon change, and a 
corresponding change be adopted in the public forms of worship. 
Marcellinus expresses very little expectation of this happy event, 
and relates to his friend the steps which Dr. Samuel Clarke had 
taken to reform the Liturgy, and the approbation of his plan 
by Archbishop Herring ; and in reply to the animadversion of 
Volusian, he defends the character of Dr. Clarke in continuing 
to officiate in the church ; which, however, it is not improbable 
that he might have relinquished, if he had not succeeded in his 
plan of reform. And to the inquiry of Volusian, how it would 
be advisable to act, especially in the country, with regard to 
public worship, Photinus refers, with high approbation, to the 
conduct of a gentleman, Mr. Tayleur, of Shrewsbury, who had 
used the Reformed Liturgy first in his own house, and afterwards 
in a separate place of worship ; an example which had been 
followed by some others, and which it was hoped would continue 
to spread. The conversation concludes with an interesting 
quotation from a late publication, by a gentleman who had, upon 
principle, retired from his connection with the Established Church. 
" Christian reader, this is no matter of barren speculation ; it 
strikes directly on our conduct through life, on a point of serious 
importance. The public worship of God we all consider as a 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LIXDSEY. 



211 



duty of indispensable obligation : and whether we shall perform 
this worship in the way most acceptable to hirn, and most con- 
formable to the precepts of the sacred writings, or in that way 
which best suits our indolence, or coincides with our interest; 
whether we shall pay to God the homage of an upright heart, or 
with gross negligence and solemn mockery publicly repeat what 
we cannot understand, and join in professing what we do not 
believe ; are subjects of inquiry which (however easy to determine) 
every Christian, of whatever denomination, must acknowledge to 
be of high concern/ 3 

In this work a question of considerable importance is treated 
with great judgment, impartiality, and moderation; the characters 
of the speakers are well sustained, and every argument and 
objection are allowed their due weight. And no person can rise 
from a serious and attentive perusal of the Conversations upon 
Christian Idolatry without feeling the conviction that, whatever 
allowance may be made for error, which is the result of invincible 
prejudice, it is the indispensable duty of every one who believes in 
the Unity and Supremacy of God, and that he is the proper and 
sole Object of religious worship, and in the simple humanity of 
Jesus Christ, the servant and messenger of God, to withdraw 
from worship which must to him necessarily be, and appear, 
idolatrous, and, wherever opportunity presents, to join with those, 
however small their number, however humble their condition, 
who, agreeably to the precept of their Great Master, associate for 
the worship of God the Father only. 

Some years before the venerable subject of this Memoir retired 
from his office at Essex Street chapel, his ministry was statedly 
attended by the late Duke of Grafton. This illustrious nobleman 
appears, after his retirement from public life, upon the accession 
of the famous Coalition Ministry in 1783, to have devoted a very 
considerable portion of his leisure hours to serious inquiry into 
the evidences of divine revelation, and into the contents of the 
holy Scriptures. To this he was impelled, as he himself declares 
in the papers which he drew up and printed chiefly for the in- 

p 2 



212 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



formation of his family, by the suspicion which his intercourse 
with the world raised in him, and which the observation of every 
day confirmed, that many persons, in the more elevated ranks of 
life especially, had little or no belief in the truth of the Christian 
religion. The result of this inquiry was, that the Christian religion 
had been promulgated to mankind by a person sent by, and acting 
under, the authority of the Supreme Being ; and that this religion, 
having been corrupted from very early times by various means, 
and these corruptions having been mistaken for essential parts of 
it, had been the cause of rendering the whole religion incredible 
to many men of sense. The noble inquirer soon discovered that 
one of the plainest precepts, both of the Jewish and Christian 
revelations, was the worship of one God ; and that the public 
forms; of worship in all the established churches in Christendom, 
not excepting that of our own country, contained a grievous 
deviation from this fundamental precept by prescribing the 
worship of two other persons, called the Son and the Holy Ghost, 
jointly with that of the Almighty Father, as being in all respects 
equal to him and consubstantial with him. And it soon occurred 
to the inquisitive mind of this virtuous nobleman that this was 
not a speculative discovery of little practical importance, but that 
to one who was a firm believer in the divine origin of the Christian 
religion, it was attended with very serious consequences. Con- 
vinced upon the highest authority that Christianity required the 
worship of one God only, the Duke could no longer satisfy his 
mind to attend the worship of three Gods ; and it became a 
subject of anxious and even distressing inquiry, how far it was his 
duty, in the situation and rank which he held in his country, not 
only to desert the established mode of worship, but to join a 
separate congregation, whose sole and professed bond of union 
and ground of dissent was the worship of the Father only. Upon 
this subject, and upon some others of a personal kind, this noble- 
man opened a confidential correspondence with the venerable 
founder of the Essex Street congregation ; in consequence of 
which, his difficulties being satisfactorily removed, he became a 
regular attendant at the chapel in Essex Street, and continued a 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



213 



serious and exemplary worshipper there till bad health and in 
creasing infirmities confined him at home. 

It was not till some time after the Duke became a worshipper 
in Essex Street chapel that his peculiar intimacy and personal in- 
tercourse with the venerable pastor commenced, which continued 
unabated through the remainder of Mr. Lindsey's life. This will 
be evident from the following extract of a letter from his Grace, 
dated June 4, 1789: — " The Duke of Grafton is much gratified 
by the acquaintance of Mr. Lindsey ; and though he would be 
very desirous to profit from it by taking the liberty of calling on 
him now and then for half-an-hour's conversation on serious 
subjects, he would at the same time be very unhappy to obtrude 
on his time. But if Mr. Lindsey is so obliging as to allow him 
that advantage, the D. of G. would be much obliged to him if he 
would point out about what time of the morning or evening he is 
commonly least engaged, and at which he is most likely to be 
found at leisure." The Duke after this became a frequent 
morning visitor at Essex House, and to the end of life he main- 
tained a character worthy of his profession. After a long and 
painful decline, the Duke expired at Euston, Suffolk, March 14, 
1811. A sermon was preached upon the afflicting occasion at 
Essex Street chapel on the 24th by the author of this Memoir, 
which was afterwards published, and which contains some further 
particulars of this venerable and lamented nobleman. 

The Duke of Grafton at different times set down in writing the 
result of his inquiries and his own reflections upon them. These 
extended from the year 1788 to the year 1797, and they contain 
a simple and interesting account of the progress of a virtuous and 
intelligent inquirer in his pursuit after truth. These papers were 
printed in his own lifetime, but not published. A few copies were 
given by his Grace to select friends, but they were principally in- 
tended for the use of his own family. And he desires that six 
copies may be given to each of his children, hoping that these 
may remind them of the true and honest sentiments of their father 
at different times in his better days, and that they may accustom 



214 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



themselves thereby to improve their lives more and more every- 
day by a study of the Scriptures. 

The first paper is dated December, 1788. The Duke was at 
that time, from the best search he was able to make into the holy 
writings, confirmed in the belief that " there is but one God only, 
who ought to be acknowledged and worshipped as such by all his 
creatures, and that he is the Creator and Governor of the 
universe." But at this time he appears not to have completely 
made up his mind upon the subject of the pre-existence of Christ. 
" I do," says he, " most sincerely believe in Jesus Christ, and am 
convinced that he was the Messiah, and sent by our Heavenly 
Father that the glad tidings should be made known to all man- 
kind." The noble writer adds : " Whether Christ pre-existed at 
all or not, in what manner, or from what time, I find in Scripture 
no sufficient ground or necessity to make this point a matter of 
faith, and this both comforts and rejoiceth me. It may not, 
perhaps, be displeasing to God that pious or learned and well- 
intentioned persons should ruminate and form their conjectures 
upon these high subjects ; but I conceive that no man should 
offer, for the belief of others, his opinions on them, but with the 
utmost deference, and adducing proof from Scripture sufficient to 
justify his way of thinking." He concludes this paper with great 
humility and piety in the following words : "If I am in any 
error, and under any mistake in these sentiments, I earnestly beg 
of Almighty God that I may be convinced of it, and that he will 
pardon me in my ignorance, and that he will enlighten my under- 
standing by his Holy Spirit, and lead me into the way of truth, 
establishing me in the same more and more every day." In a sort 
of postscript to this paper, the Duke expresses his " humble 
judgment " that the example of Christ is more impressive and 
efficacious upon the supposition of his " having been a man liable 
as we are to all the weakness of human nature, but to whom God 
gave not the spirit by measure." 

In another paper, dated December 25, 1789, his Grace remarks, 
<( that the service for the Lord's Supper is not cleared from some 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



215 



things which deter numbers from joining in that holy rite. A few 
omissions in the prayers would render this service very suitable to 
comprehend large denominations of Christians, who cannot join 
with the congregation at present and acquit themselves to their 
own consciences, and who cannot bring their minds to do as I 
have this day done, by joining devoutly where I could, and in 
humble silence submitting myself, where I could not join, to 
the direction of that light which it has pleased God to grant 
unto me." 

This practice of joining in a religious service in many respects 
so very exceptionable, and, as a Unitarian must think, even idola- 
trous, cannot perhaps be strictly justified, even with the mental 
reservation which this virtuous nobleman exercised when he joined 
in the solemnity. But it is most evident that he acted under a 
sense of duty; and that, far from condemning those who could 
not in conscience join in communion with the Established Church, 
he wishes that the service might be so altered as to obviate their 
objections. Surely, then, it ill becomes those who judge perhaps 
more correctly, and who act more consistently in abstaining from 
such worship, to censure others with severity who think it their 
duty to attend what they justly deem a corrupt, and in many 
respects an unscriptural form of worship, rather than entirely 
forego the benefit of religious institutions, or exhibit an example of 
the total neglect of Christian ordinances which may be misunder- 
stood, and may mislead the lower orders of society. Happy is he 
who condemneth not himself in the thing which he alloweth. 
Let every one be a severe judge of his own conduct, and candid 
in his estimate of others. 

In a paper dated December 30, 1790, the noble writer declares 
his now firm conviction, that " Jesus was a man, one in our own 
nature, and that his example and precepts were designed to direct 
us in our duty, as well as to afford the greatest possible consola- 
tion and encouragement in the regular discharge of it." 

In the next paper, which is dated January, 1791, the Duke, 
having stated that he by no means would be understood to repre- 
sent the proper humanity of Christ as a doctrine essential to 



216 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



salvation, adds, "Yet I cannot but think that a belief in the 
divinity of Christ, and the invocation of him as God, is dis- 
pleasing to the Almighty, as breaking his first great and unre- 
pealed command ; and that every man who wilfully neglects to 
inquire has much to answer for ; and much more those who have 
presumed to fetter his creatures by forcing them in their belief. 
Let ministers and teachers of religion, let fathers of families and 
others who are enforcing the belief of a mystical union in the God- 
head, let them be aware, that they are using a most unwarrant- 
able authority over the consciences of their fellow-creatures, for 
which they will ultimately have to answer to the Father of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, to the One only true God, who on this very head 
has been pleased to style himself a jealous God ; and also that 
if they should be in an error, as I conceive them to be, they 
become dangerously responsible for the restraints which they 
have presumed to lay upon the consciences of others." 

I transcribe the whole of the memorandum dated March 5, 
1791, as expressive both of this virtuous nobleman's enlightened 
views and deep humility. a On the truth of the Christian 
dispensation and religion I confidently rest my hopes of immor- 
tality ; and, with thankfulness for so great a boon, I trust to the 
mercy of God towards me, who stand so much in need of it." 

In a paper dated January 1, 1792, the Duke expresses a belief 
that the exaltation of Christ to dominion and authority was the 
consequence of his submission to those sufferings which " were so 
efficacious, perhaps so necessary, to his own glory and to the 
future happiness of mankind." His mind seems at this time to 
have been perplexed with some obscure notion of the unscriptural 
doctrines of meritorious sufferings, and of the external authority 
of Jesus Christ; which, however, he regards as a mystery which 
"it will probably never be given to man in the present state" to 
understand, and which therefore " must consequently be ranked 
among those articles the belief of which cannot be necessary to 
salvation." 

In a paper dated April 21, of the same year, the Duke repre- 
sents himself as differing from some with whom he generally 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LIXDSEY. 



217 



agrees, in believing that Jesus Christ in his present state can hear 
and help us. At the same time he adds : " I presume, and do 
firmly believe, that he would be offended at being addressed by 
any of his followers as an object of that divine worship which, as 
I conceive, the Scriptures represent to be due only to the 
Almighty Father and Creator, the ever-living God." 

The difference upon this subject between his Grace and the 
theological friends to whom he refers, was probably merely 
nominal. Agreeing with the noble writer in the great principle 
that Jesus Christ is not the proper object of worship, they would 
be far from presuming to limit the extent of his knowledge or his 
power in his present exalted state. 

In a paper dated June 10, of the same year, the Duke, after 
expressing his firm belief in the inspiration of the prophets, and 
of the information communicated to the apostles by the instruc- 
tions of Christ and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, proceeds to state 
his objections to " the notion generally inculcated concerning the 
perpetual inspiration of the apostles and evangelists, which," says 
he, " I humbly conceive has much more assisted the cause of infi- 
delity : which, in its turn, will recede in proportion as our divines, 
becoming every day more liberal in their opinions, shall advance to 
a candid admission that the apostles were fallible, and not at all 
times directed by the Holy Spirit." 

In a paper dated June 10, 1794, the noble writer states, that 
his "own unenlightened reason had ever revolted against the 
church doctrine of original sin, as wholly incompatible with the 
attributes of a benevolent and omnipotent God." He adds : 
" And my mind received great comfort when I found that Scripture, 
so far from justifying an idea so derogatory to the honour and 
glory of the Deity, does, through its whole tenor, furnish ample 
ground for concluding against this sad and, I trust, unsupported 
doctrine.'' After this, he proceeds to state some of those passages 
which, in his view, appeared to be most irreconcilable to this 
popular opinion, particularly Matt, xviii. 3, xix. 4; Luke xviii. 
17. 

The paper dated March, 1795, contains rather an elaborate 



218 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



disquisition upon the subject of the redemption of sinners by the 
death of Christ, which seems to have pressed very much upon the 
mind of the noble writer. He discards the common notion of 
vicarious suffering and satisfaction. He conceives that "Scripture 
redemption consists in a deliverance from the practice and guilt of 
sin to be effected by sincere repentance, followed by total amend- 
ment of life, to which the merciful goodness of God has vouch- 
safed to annex the forgiveness of all past sins and offences." " That 
which propitiates God is the forsaking of sin and newness of 
life. If so, may not Christ, who teaches us this method of being 
reconciled, be fairly and properly called the propitiation of our 
sins ? " 

In a paper dated April 17, 1796, the noble writer expresses his 
decided conviction, that if doctrines are unintelligible, the belief of 
them cannot be necessary to salvation. " Arrogant indeed," says 
he, "is the theology of those who would enforce the belief of 
superstitious or inexplicable opinions as divine truths, annexing 
the hard alternative of eternal punishment. Far otherwise, I 
believe, speaks the conciliating language of the gospel of our 
benevolent Lord and Master." 

The paper dated March 14, 1797, represents the expectation of 
a future life, founded on the natural immortality of the soul, as 
involved in inextricable difficulties ; " whereas he who believes 
in the truth of Christianity, and who confides in the assurances of 
the gospel, has no occasion to fly to any metaphysical disquisitions, 
for he feels at once that God, who was able to create him originally, 
has promised through Jesus Christ to raise him again to life at 
the last day ; that he who has done the first has equally power 
to perform the second, and has given an irrefragable proof of it 
by the resurrection of Jesus himself from the dead." 

The conclusion, which, though it has no date, appears to have 
been written in the year 1797, begins with a most ingenuous 
and affecting apology to the noble writer's friends, acquaintance, 
and to the world in general, for embracing a form of public worship 
differing essentially from that of the church in which he was 
bred ; expressing his deep sense of the responsibility which he 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



219 



incurred by it, his entire satisfaction in the choice which he had 
made, his earnest regret that he had not turned his serious 
attention to the subject of religion earlier in life, and his ardent 
desire that what he writes may be instrumental in rousing others 
to an earlier attachment to the pure religion of the gospel. As 
this introduction has been cited at length in the discourse which was 
published by the author of this Memoir upon occasion of the 
lamented decease of the noble Duke, it is unnecessary to repeat it 
here. 

The noble writer goes on to animadvert upon the egregious 
error of those who, regarding religion chiefly as an engine of 
state, expect to establish good order by the help of it, without 
"reviewing the Articles and Liturgy, and presenting to the people 
a purer Christianity, not liable to the formidable attacks which 
are daily made upon the present system." The remainder of this 
paper is taken up in commenting upon the first Article in the 
Church of England, which teaches that " in the Unity of the 
Godhead there be three persons of one substance, power, and 
eternity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ; " and in 
showing how repugnant this doctrine is to the declaration of 
the apostle, that " there is One God, and one Mediator between 
God and men, the man Christ Jesus." After this, the noble 
writer severely condemns the damnatory clauses of the Athanasian 
Creed, which, though it still remains as a creed required from 
those who profess to be of the Church of England, had no 
existence till a hundred years after the Council of Nice, and 
was not admitted even into the Church of Rome till the tenth 
century. 

Having expatiated somewhat at large upon these subjects, he 
adds : " My objections are weighty against the Article of the 
church on oriyinal or birth sin, against the doctrine maintained 
relative to good works done before justification having the nature 
of sin, against that on predestination, and some others. But 
I trust I have said enough, without now entering on these, to 
prove that, if I be in the wrong, it is with an honest and firm 
desire of searching for the truth." " It is from the Scriptures 



220 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



alone/' continues this illustrious inquirer after truth, and with 
these remarks he closes his interesting volume, " It is from the 
Scriptures alone that we can know the revealed will of God ; 
and it is from thence I venture to draw my justification for 
wishing to join in communion with a church which will admit of 
no article of faith that is not expressed in the very words of 
Scripture; no creed which disclaims the right of private judgment 
in the concern of religion, and still, more, which allows the right 
of persecuting any human creature for conscience' sake." 

As there is little reason to expect that these interesting papers 
will be soon published, the writer of this Memoir thought that 
it would be acceptable to his readers to exhibit this brief abstract 
of their contents, accompanied with a few specimens of the 
observations themselves ; and in so doing he is convinced that 
he complies with the expressed desire of the noble writer, that 
"not onlyhis friends and acquaintance, but the world in general, 
might know that he embraced a form of public worship essentially 
different from that of the church in which he was bred, not hastily 
and through levity, but with all the consideration and investigation 
which so awful a decision required ; " and that what he wrote 
u might be instrumental in rousing others to an earlier attachment 
to the pure religion of the gospel, and to remember their Creator 
in the days of their youth." And it cannot be doubted that 
the noble writer's vindication of his conduct must be perfectly 
satisfactory to every serious, liberal, and enlightened mind, how 
strange and unaccountable soever such conduct and such reasoning 
may appear to a gay and a thoughtless world. 

Indeed, that a person of the Duke of Grafton's elevated rank in 
society, who had filled the principal offices of the state, and 
who was allied by birth, and associated by habits of familiar 
intercourse, with the first nobility of the land, should, in the 
vigour of life, sit down calmly to study the Scriptures ; that, 
in consequence of this, he should embrace a system of Christianity 
widely different from the popular creed ; that, impelled by a 
commanding sense of duty, he should secede from the church 
established by law, in which he had been educated, and to the 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



221 



worship and constitution of which he was affectionately attached ; 
that he should publicly unite himself to a society of Christians 
not then tolerated by the state, which existed by connivance only, 
and the principles of which are held in public disrepute ; w T hose 
primary principle and professed bond is the unrivalled supremacy 
and the sole worship of God the Father, as revealed and taught 
by his faithful servant and messenger Jesus Christ, — indicates 
perhaps as pure a principle of integrity, and as high a degree 
of mental vigour and Christian fortitude, as can be conceived to 
exist. It may even be questioned whether the noble sacrifice 
made by Mr. Lindsey of all his preferments in the church and his 
prospects in life, or the calm and dignified self-possession of Dr. 
Priestley under calumny and persecution, discovered a more 
generous and intrepid spirit in the cause of truth. In all 
the changes of their fortune, and amidst the severest trials of 
their constancy, these Christian heroes were encompassed with 
friends who stood by them, who kept them in countenance, 
who protected them from, or who shared w r ith them in, the con- 
tumely and the insult of their misguided opponents. But the 
Duke of Grafton stood alone — the Abdiel of the sacred cause. 
He had no one to join him, no one to stand by him, no one 
to share in the reproach ; and yet he persevered. And though he 
fully understood, and feelingly describes, the delicacy and re- 
sponsibility of his situation, he at the same time attests the 
unspeakable satisfaction which he experienced from a faithful 
adherence to the dictates of an enlightened conscience. Had the 
Duke been a religionist only, and without inquiry or discrimination 
continued a believer in the popular creed and a frequenter of the 
established worship, his conversion, so far from being a subject of 
reproach, would have been blazoned to the world with every mark 
of honour and applause. Nor would he have wanted associates 
even among persons of his own rank, w T ho generally, and almost 
unavoidably, confounding the Christian religion with the creeds 
and catechisms and other articles of human device to which 
they are accustomed, when they become religious too often 
degenerate into narrow bigots to the tenets of their childhood. 



222 



MEMOIRS OP THE LATE 



But the Duke of Grafton disdained to take his religion upon 
trust. His superior mind examined the Scripture for itself. And 
having discovered Truth, he valued it most highly ; he held it 
fast, and would upon no consideration part with it. By an 
habitual attendance upon a form of public worship addressed 
exclusively to the One God, even the Father, he calmly but firmly 
avowed his principles ; and to all who had the happiness of 
knowing him, he exhibited their powerful and beneficial influence 
in a virtuous and Christian life. 

Some have affected to believe that this virtuous nobleman 
was not thoroughly consistent, and that he did not carry his 
principles to their proper extente Suffice it to say, in reply to 
these ungenerous insinuations, that the Duke of Grafton at all 
times acted up to his own ideas of consistency and rectitude, 
though his judgment might not entirely correspond with that 
of his accusers. Let such persons recollect what this illustrious 
nobleman did, before they presume to arraign him for what he did 
not. And it may not be unbecoming those who are so very 
sharp- sighted in discovering a mote in the eye of another, to 
consider well whether there may not at the same time be a beam in 
their own. 



CHAPTER XII. 

MR. LINDSEY PUBLISHES A NEW AND REFORMED EDITION OF HIS 
LITURGY; RESIGNS HIS OFFICE AT ESSEX-STREET CHAPEL. 
HIS FAREWELL SERMON PUBLISHED, BUT NOT PREACHED. 
INTERESTS HIMSELF IN FAVOUR OF THOSE WHO SUFFERED 
BY UNJUST STATE PROSECUTIONS. CASES OF FYSHE PALMER, 
MUIR, AND WINTERBOTHAM. 

Early in the year 1793, Mr. Lindsey, at that time approaching 
the term assigned by the sacred writer as the usual limit of 
human life, or at least of the active and useful portion of it, and 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS 



LINDSEY. 



223 



being secretly but firmly resolved, though in a high state of health 
and vigour, corporeal and intellectual, to retire from public service 
in his seventieth year, he revised and printed a fourth edition of 
the Reformed Liturgy, that he might bequeath it to his bereaved 
flock, as containing the last corrections, and the most approved 
sentiments, of their faithful and affectionate pastor. He intro- 
duced it with a sermon delivered upon the occasion in the month 
of April in that year, and which he afterwards published, In 
this sermon, after giving a judicious account of the duty, the 
reasonableness, and the efficacy of prayer, he proceeds to state 
the nature and the grounds of the alterations w T hich he had made 
in this new edition of the Reformed Liturgy. They were indeed 
not inconsiderable. He had omitted what is called the Apostles' 
Creed, and the three invocations in the Litany. 

After stating the preference which the society in Essex Street 
give to forms of prayer, he observes that " one capital incon- 
venience belongs to this mode of worship, viz. that forms of 
prayer drawn up in one age, through greater improvements made 
by the study of the sacred writings, may become improper to be 
used; and things of this nature once established, are too apt on 
that very account to be held sacred, and by no means to be 
changed : by whkh serious thinking persons are often brought 
into great difficulties. The proper remedy would be, frequently 
to revise public devotional forms of human institution, and to 
correct and bring them nearer to the Scripture model/ And 
having glanced at the ineffectual at tempts which had been made in 
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries for the reformation of 
the established Liturgy, he reminds his readers that Dr. Samuel 
Clarke's amendments of the Book of Common Prayer had been 
adopted by the society in Essex-Street chapel, # but not without 

* Mr. Lindsey observes in a note, that it is very probable that Dr. Clarke's Reformed 
Liturgy was approved by King George II., certainly by his consort Queen Caroline; 
that Dr. Herring, Archbishop of Canterbury, gave it the fullest and highest com- 
mendations in a letter to the amiable and excellent Dr. Jortin ; and that it also received 
very signal tokens of approbation from a learned and venerable prelate, lately deceased 
(probably Bishop Law), the intimate friend of Dr. Jortin. "And I cannot suffer 
myself to doubt/' continues the venerable writer, "that whenever the people of Great 
Britain shall calmly weigh the reasons offered, they will be earnest to attain such an 



224 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



" some alterations and improvements in the different editions of 
the Reformed Liturgy," which had hitherto met with the appro- 
bation of the Society ; he had no doubt that the same approbation 
w r ould be extended to the changes introduced into the present 
edition ; the reasons for which he proceeds to state : 

" The first omission is that of the Creed, concerning which I 
would observe to you that I had thought of leaving it out when 
our worship first began in this place ; but it was retained at the 
suggestion of judicious friends, lest without further examination 
or inquiry we should on that account be represented as a society 
of mere Deists, and other Christians be deterred from uniting with 
us. But I persuade myself that it has been long seen that there 
are no grounds for such an imputation." 

The author then proceeds to assign the following reasons for 
not continuing this Creed as a part of public worship. "1. It 
was not written by the apostles, and therefore is of no authority. 
2. It is very wrong and unwarrantable to put persons upon 
making a profession of their faith in assemblies for Christian 
worship. 3. No man, or number of men together, have any 
authority to make a creed for others. 4. The imposition of creeds 
in all ages has been the cause of great mischief and dissension, 

important alteration in their public form of prayer so easily accomplished : a circum- 
stance fervently wished for by many of the clergy of the Church of England twenty 
years ago, when 1 ceased to be one of them, and now much longed for by many of its 
lay members." 

May I be permitted to suggest, how much wiser it would be, in the present critical 
period, when the church is alarmed, and not without reason, at the rapid growth of 
Nonconformity in various shapes, instead of anxiously devising means to shore up a 
system of doctrine and worship, which no effort of human ingenuity can support in 
opposition to the liberal and inquisitive spirit of this enlightened period, to open the 
doors of the Established Church to learned and conscientious inquirers, by substituting 
the Scriptures in the place of the Articles, and reforming the Liturgy upon the plan of 
Dr. Clarke's, so as to contain nothing unscriptural, or offensive to the judicious and 
serious worshipper] The Church of England would then be built upon a rock, and 
might bid defiance to all assailants. Nor would it then exhibit the extraordinary 
phenomenon of the whole body of the clergy setting themselves in array against the 
laudable efforts of a humble individual for the instruction of the poor, assigning for 
their conduct this singular reason, that of a system which teaches the Scriptures only, 
without the aid of the Catechism and Liturgy, "the natural consequence must be to 
alienate the minds of the people from, or render them indifferent to," the " doctrine and 
discipline of the Established Church. 9 — See the Preamble to the Catalogue of Sub- 
scribers to the National Society for the Education of the Poor, in the Morning 
Chronicle for Dec. 28, 1811. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



225 



and a constant snare to honest minds who are tied down to 
them. 

" The other omission is in the beginning of the Litany, where 
the three invocations are changed into one. Many persons of 
high estimation for learning, judgment, and piety, favourers of 
Dr. Clarke's Liturgy, have always esteemed it a great oversight 
and blemish therein, that when that celebrated person rejected the 
Trinity from the Liturgy he should so far accommodate himself to 
the doctrine he exploded as to retain three different invocations in 
form, which carry to common heedless persons a sort of appearance 
of the Trinity." 

The Liturgy thus amended was glady accepted by Mr. Lindsey^s 
congregation, and continued to be used in the chapel till the year 
1802, when it was superseded by a Liturgy drawn up and intro- 
duced by his successor, the Rev. Dr. John Disney. But though 
this Liturgy was judicious, unexceptionable, and, as many 
thought, in some respects an improvement upon the former, yet, 
from the modern style of the language, and other circumstances, 
and particularly from its wide deviation from the established 
Liturgy, it was not so acceptable to the congregation as that of 
the venerable founder of the society. And upon the choice of a 
successor to Dr. Disney, upon that gentleman's resignation in the 
year 1805, the general wish of the Trustees and the congrega- 
tion was expressed to resume Mr. Lindsey's Liturgy, which was 
accordingly acceded to ; and a few alterations, chiefly verbal, 
being made, to which that excellent person gave a cordial assent, 
a new edition was printed, a copy of which was locked up with 
the writings of the chapel, and a resolution passed that no further 
alterations should be made, nor any new form of worship be 
introduced, without the express consent of a majority of the 
Trustees.* 

Mr. Lindsey having now completely made up his mind upon 

* This cannot with justice be regarded as any infringement upon the rights of con- 
science ; for, as the Trustees have the disposal of the chapel property, they have a right 
to annex what terms they please to the grant, consistently with the tenor of the trust 
with which they are invested. And this condition was approved by the original grantor 
of the premises, Mr. Lindsey, who was then living. 

Q 



226 



MEMOIRS OY THE LATE 



the subject of his resignation, in the beginning of the summer 
addressed a circular letter to the Trustees, of which the following 
is an extract : 

" Dear Sir, — I beg leave to address you in the capacity of a 
Trustee for the chapel in Essex Street, and to inform you of my 
intention of resigning my office of minister of it. 

u My advanced age and growing infirmities have for some time 
intimated to me the rightness and necessity of this step ; but as 
I was enabled to perform the service, I thought it my duty 
to accomplish two points previous to my retiring from my 
station." 

The points to which the writer alludes, were a renewal of the 
Trust, and a complete repair of the whole premises, which had 
been done in the best manner possible. Having stated these 
circumstances for the information of the Trustees, Mr. Lindsey 
adds : " I have fixed the middle of J uly next for the time of 
my resignation ; and I am happy in having a candidate as 
a successor in my colleague, Dr. Disney, whose zeal for the 
principle upon which the society was founded, and whose 
abilities, assiduity, and acceptableness to you and the con- 
gregation, in the discharge of his duty, have been for a long 
time ascertained." 

In this simple and unostentatious manner did this pious veteran 
resign his connection with a congregation which he had served 
faithfully for nearly twenty years, during which period he had 
enjoyed the unintermitted veneration and attachment of every 
member of the society, both old and young, and had been 
witness to the progress of those principles, to the propagation 
of which his life had been devoted, and for the sake of which 
he had made the greatest sacrifices, to an extent far exceeding 
his most sanguine expectation, both in his own society and in 
the world, and in a great measure by means of his own labours 
and writings. 

To Mr. Lindsey's letter of resignation, the Trustees of the 
chapel returned the following appropriate and respectful answer : 
" The Trustees for the chapel in Essex Street, at this time in 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



227 



London, having received a circular letter from the Reverend Mr. 
Lindsey, declaring his intention to resign his office as minister 
of that chapel on the fifteenth day of July next, resolve : That, 
together with their sincere regret on the occasion, their very 
affectionate acknowledgments, in the names of themselves and 
the absent Trustees, be presented to him for the rare and noble 
example which he gave to the professors of genuine Chris- 
tianity, when he sacrificed the honours and emoluments of the 
Established Church, in compliance with the dictates of his con- 
science; for his active zeal in the cause of truth, manifested by 
the institution of the religious society in Essex Street ; for the 
able and distinterested services by which he has raised it to its 
present state of prosperity; for the distinguished spirit of 
benevolence and piety w T hich hath uniformly marked his dis- 
charge of the duties of his office, and endeared him to all 
under his pastoral care ; and also for his attention to the future 
prosperity of the institution, by introducing to the society his 
worthy colleague, the Reverend Dr. Disney." 

Upon this interesting occasion Mr. Lindsey composed a 
judicious and suitable discourse, which, however, he w T ould not 
trust himself to deliver from the pulpit, finding himself, as he 
expresses it, "too tenderly impressed with taking leave of so 
many indulgent friends, to be capable of personally addressing 
them with any tolerable degree of vigour."* This discourse, 
therefore, was published and distributed among his friends, 
and to the members of his congregation. In the exordium 
he states, that " having now attained the term of life when 
the human faculties naturally lose their vigour and decay, and 
being in the twentieth year of his happy services as their minister, 
it is now time to withdraw, and meet the unavoidable infirmities 
of nature in a private station and having assigned his reasons 

* In a letter to Dr. Toulmin, dated July 8, 1783, Mr. Lindsey thus expresses 
himself : u I take ray rinal leave of the pulpit in this chapel on Sunday next, in the 
mornins, and shall endeavour to say something suitable, though without any hint of 
bidding^ farewell, which my own nerves would not bear ; and many kind friends of 
those who are not yet gone into the country say, that they must keep away from the 
chapel if I do anything of this kind." 

Q 2 



228 memoirs or THE late 

why he declined the pressing solicitations of many of his friends 
to continue public services, with any additional assistance that 
he might require, he takes for his text those words in the Lord's 
Prayer, "Thy kingdom/' or rather, " Thy reign come/' professing 
his ardent wish upon this occasion to impress his readers with a 
sense of the importance of the principle by which we distinguish 
ourselves from other Christians, and of the obligations which it 
lays upon us to the practice of piety and all virtue. In the 
progress of his discourse, the pious and learned writer professes 
to show that the gospel being from God, it must prevail ; — 
that its success is to be gradual ;-— that a principal obstacle 
to the progress of the gospel is the making of Jesus Christ 
the Supreme God, and worshipping him. Here he introduces 
a brief history of the long and lasting corruption of so funda- 
mental a doctrine of the gospel as the Unity of God^ and of its 
revival after a seemingly total extinction of it; and shows that 
this corrupt doctrine concerning Christ is the cause of atheism and 
infidelity among Christians ; from which he infers that it is only 
by the revival and spreading of the strict doctrine of the Divine 
Unity that the kingdom of God, or the gospel of Christ, can 
be fully established in the world : — and upon this the venerable 
writer justly and forcibly remarks, that "it is not any religious 
sentiment, any opinion of our own, which is frequently objected 
to us, that excites our zeal. In contending for the strict Unity 
of God, and that Jesus, his messenger to us, was a man like 
ourselves, we contend for the gospel itself, as in this enlightened 
age serious and rational inquirers are not likely to be reconciled 
to any other form of Christianity."* 

* Under this head the venerable writer remarks, " You will perceive that your 
duty to Christ and to truth requires you to do nothing whereby you may encou- 
rage such undue sentiments of him, especially not to frequent the worship of him as 
God, when you are absolutely convinced that he is not entitled to such regards, and 
expressly requires you to pay them to Grod only." 

In a note, the author observes that " the apostle Paul, in his adjudication of a case 
where any doubt remained upon the mind concerning the lawfulness of an action, 
has given it entirely against compliance. Whatever is not of faith is of sin f ' 
Rom. xiv. 14, 22, 23. He adds : " It must be owned, however, that there may be 
peculiar situations in life, which may incline some to doubt whether greater good may 
not accrue from an Unitarian Christian sometimes attending Trinitarian worship. The 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LIXDSEY. 



229 



Having thus established the great importance of the Unitarian 
doctrine, this venerable apostle of primitive truth proceeds to 
state that holiness of life is indispensably necessary for promoting 
the success of the gospel ; and especially " the most perfect 
benevolence towards all other Christians, and all men." He 
laments over the prevalence of an intolerant spirit among 
Christians in all ages, and particularly alludes to the disgraceful 
scenes which had been lately acted at Birmingham, u He 
flatters himself, notwithstanding, that this hostile, barbarous 
temper is by no means generally prevalent, but that a spirit of 
candour and gentle forbearance is gone forth and spreading itself 
silently through the nation of which, u the place of public 
worship in which we assemble is no small proof. Although it is 
founded upon the principle of the worship of the church 
established being directed to wrong objects, and such as we 
cannot conscientiously frequent, there is not perhaps a Christian 
society in this great city, for its numbers, more respectable or 
more respected than ours ; and such it has been from the very 
first of its institution." The pious writer adds, what it is to 
be hoped that all his successors in office, and all who do now or 
who may hereafter join in the religious services of that society, 
of which he was the founder, will practically remember : " I 
have no doubt of our going on to be more and more respected, 
whilst we adhere to the just and liberal principle with which 
we first set out, and from which I have never knowingly deviated, 
viz. never to arraign or condemn other churches or Christian 

instances can be but rare. But where this is done, the persons should act without 
disguise, and let their real sentiments be known — as in the remarkable case of the 
captain of the army of the King of Syria : 2 Kings v. 17. 18, The safe side, however, 
is to refrain entirely."' 

The question is indeed of very difficult solution. The case of Naaman, to which 
the writer alludes, will scarcely be allowed to have much weight in the decision. The 
Syrian courtier states his own purpose : and the prophet, having no authority over a 
heathen, dismisses him courteously. But this will by no means amount to a justification 
of a Unitarian joining habitually in Trinitarian worship. How far this may be lawful 
when no other worship is accessible, is a question of great nicety of which every 
one must form a judgment for himself; nor ha3 any one a right to arraign the 
conduct of another. Happy is he who condemneth not himself in the thing which 
ho alloweth. 



230 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



societies, for their different worship or opinions, who have a right 
to judge for themselves as much as you have." 

The conclusion is interesting and very appropriate. It is too 
long to be wholly transcribed, but it is hoped that no apology 
will be thought necessary for inserting a few extracts. 

"And now, brethren, I bid you finally farewell. And having 
for many years earnestly desired and endeavoured, however 
weakly, to serve you in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and 
to promote your virtue and everlasting happiness, I commit you 
to God and his overruling providence ; for, however diligently 
others may plant and water, the increase and the fruits are to be 
expected from him. 

" I can never be sufficiently thankful to the bounty of Divine 
Providence in raising up a number of serious and generous friends, 
when alone, and destitute of all means to set on foot this place 
of worship, to concur in the design, and for all the support 
continued by them and others to the present day. 

" Happy, thrice happy, if both they who have been called away 
before us, and we that are left, may be found worthy objects of the 
Divine mercy, and meet together at the resurrection of the last 
day, never to be separated more ! And as no energies in the 
cause of truth and virtue are lost, we may perhaps have the felicity 
to perceive that we, in our narrow spheres, have been honoured 
with being made instruments of good in the hands of our Maker. 
And particularly, that our humble and honest testimony against 
sp early and lasting a corruption of the honour and worship due 
to him alone, had its beneficial effects in the great scheme of his 
providence, in bringing forward that more perfect state of things 
which we look for, when knowledge shall increase, and benevolence 
be universal." 

Such were the pious and benevolent sentiments which this 
venerable teacher of truth and righteousness expressed and 
endeavoured to inculcate upon the minds of his congregation 
when he took his final leave of the pulpit, and closed those public 
and paternal addresses of which they had so often been the 
attentive and delighted hearers. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



231 



Some of Mr. Lindsey's friends who were witnesses to his almost 
unabated vigour, both of body and mind, could hardly excuse him 
for thus prematurely, as they thought, withdrawing himself from 
an office the duties of which he was so fully competent to dis- 
charge. But this resignation of his public ministry was no hasty 
step. It had long been a settled principle with Mr. Lindsey and 
his friend Dr. Priestley, and, to the best of the author's recol- 
lection, of their common friend Dr. Price, that at the age of 
seventy it was expedient for ministers to retire from public service, 
even though their faculties should appear to be in full vigour, and 
that they should not wait till resignation became necessary in con- 
sequence of bodily or of mental decay. After the age of three- 
score and ten, the faculties cannot long remain unimpaired, and 
the decline of physical or intellectual capacity is often more 
apparent to others than to a person himself. Often were they 
accustomed to speak with regret of ministers whose age and 
infirmities would have made retirement eligible, but who were 
necessitated to continue in office for the sake of a scanty sub- 
sistence ; and still more did they deplore the case of those whose 
incapacity and incompetency to the duties of their office were 
obvious to every one but themselves. They disapproved the in- 
judicious partiality of friends who were urging aged ministers to 
official duties to which their strength was not equal ; and they 
highly applauded the discretion and firmness of those ministers 
who, like their late friend the learned Hugh Farmer, having once 
resigned the pulpit upon account of age and infirmity, resolutely 
declined, upon any consideration whatever, officiating again in 
public. Upon this principle Mr. Lindsey thought proper to act ; 
and having, for reasons which he judged satisfactory, taken leave 
of his public charge, he took leave of it for ever, and could never 
be persuaded to ascend the pulpit again.* 

* Upon this subject Mr. Lindsey thus expresses himself, in a letter to a friend, dated 
June 13, 1793 : "I ought not to keep secret any longer from you what was known to 
one or two friends a year ago, and lately been signified to the Trustees of the chapel, 
that I intend very soon to resign my office of minister in it. On the first of July I enter 
into my seventieth year ; and though I have cause of all thankfulness for the health and 
strength I enjoy, being able tolerably to go through the duty, yet T find infirmities 
coming, and have had some nervous spasms, particularly in my head, that have long 



232 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



The venerable subject of this Memoir, though neither his 
judgment nor his inclination led him to take a prominent part in 
the politics of the time, was nevertheless a warm advocate for civil 
and religious liberty, and his generous feelings and principles 
upon this most interesting of all subjects he scorned to disguise. 
He sympathized deeply with those political characters who, what- 
ever indiscretions some of them might be chargeable with, suffered 
from that which, in Mr. Lindsey' s estimation, was the overstrained 
rigour of the law both in Scotland and England, penalties far 
beyond the demerit of any crime which could be proved against 
them. Among these sufferers, the person on whose behalf Mr. 
Lindsey was in the highest degree interested was the Reverend 
Thomas Fyshe Palmer, a gentleman descended from a respectable 
and opulent family in Bedfordshire, who, having been destined to 
take orders in the Established Church, had been educated at the 
University of Cambridge, and was a Fellow of Queen's College. 
This gentleman, in consequence of perusing the writings of Dr. 
Priestley and Mr. Lindsey, became a decided Unitarian ; and 
being a man of an ardent, active spirit, he devoted himself to the 
propagation of those principles which to him appeared scriptural 
and evangelical. In the year 1792, he was preacher of the 
Unitarian doctrine in Scotland, where his official labours were 
chiefly employed in the town of Dundee, in which a considerable 
society of Unitarian worshippers had been formed by the united 
exertions of hiuiself, Messrs. Christie, Millar, and other respectable 

satisfied me that it is right to retire with a good grace. I have recommended my worthy 
colleague, and he will certainly be chosen to succeed me. But we shall continue to live 
on in our present situation. For the whole premises being purchased, and the chapel, 
&c, built by money collected by me from various friends, with not less than five hundred 
pounds of our own, and the accommodations, &c, being much owing to my wife's atten- 
tion, skill, and daily superintendence, when I gave up the fee of the whole, which was 
vested in me, and made choice of the Trustees in the trust-deed, which perpetuates the 
premises for the proper uses, they settled the house rent-free to my wife lor her life." 
To the same purpose Mr. Lindsey writes to another friend, September 9, 1793 : 
We shall still continue to reside in the house in Essex Street ; for the Trustees of the 
chapel would not appoint a successor, but under the limitation of my enjoying the 
house, &c. for life, as was appointed in the original trust-deed for my wife it I had died 
the minister and she had survived me. This was thought reasonable, as by collections 
from our friends, with no small sum of our own, we had purchased, built, and furnished 
the premises." 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



233 



inhabitants. Mr. Fyshe Palmer was a man of excellent under- 
standing, unimpeachable morals, and of great simplicity of 
character ; and being a zealous friend to liberty, and upon all 
occasions ardent, he ; perhaps inconsiderately, was concerned in the 
republication of an Address to the People of Scotland concerning 
the Reform of Parliament, for which, in the autumn of 1793, he 
was tried by the Circuit Court of Justiciary; and being convicted, 
a sentence of banishment was passed upon him, which was inter- 
preted and executed as a sentence of transportation for seven years 
to Botany Bay. After this inhuman sentence, Mr. Palmer 
experienced very rigorous treatment. He was confined for some 
weeks in the common gaol of Perth, from which, without any 
previous notice, he was hurried away at four o'clock in the morn- 
ing, in the month of November, and taken on board a cutter, 
which brought him to London, where he and Mr. Muir, a gentle- 
man of the Faculty of Advocates in Scotland (who, for a similar 
offence, had been subjected to a still severer sentence), were for 
some time lodged in Newgate, and were afterwards confined in the 
hulks at Woolwich, where they were treated by the governor with 
much humanity, and were allowed all the accommodations which 
their situation would admit.* They were permitted to see their 

* "Mr. Muir and Mr. Palmer/' says Mr. Lindsey, in a letter to Dr. Toulmin, dated 
December 14, 1793, " are on board the hulks with the felons, and many of my friends 
have been to see them. I also hear from Mr. Palmer, and have sent him some books. 
Neither of them, I believe, is in want of anything, the place considered. But the situa- 
tion is, upon the whole, horrible. Mr. Palmer, however, is most cheerful in the midst of 
it, and Mr. Muir not otherwise." In another letter to the same friend, dated 
January 10, 1 791, Mr. Lindsey writes : " Since I last wrote, opinions have varied 
about the destiny of Mr. Palmer and Mr. Muir, as the Scotch judges have, upon revisal, 
adhered to the sentence pronounced upon them. Mr. Palmer's health < nd spirits are 
most cheerful ; Mr. Muir far from well in health since the cold weather set in ; both of 
them supported by their integrity and future hopes. Some friends who visited the hulks 
on Wednesday had a commission from some others to offer a purse to Mr. Palmer and 
Mr. Muir. The former declined taking anything, but Mr. Muir thankfully accepted it." 
Mr. Pa mer afterwards saw reason to alter his mind, and accepted the proffered kindness 
of his friends. In a subsequent letter, Mr. Lindsey informs his friend that the amount 
of the contribution was between five and six hundred pounds, and that it was vested in 
the hands of a committee of seven for the benefit of Messrs. Palmer, Muir, Skirving, 
and even Margarot, " who, as a joint sufferer, was not to be overlooked, though his 
general character was not so high as the others." How true this observation of Mr. 
Lindsey's was, and how justly this person was entitled to participate in the bounty of 
Mr. Palmer s friends, those who were witnesses to his conduct to that gentleman on 
board the transport in the passage to South Wales could properly appreciate. 



234 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



friends. Here they were visited by Mr. Lindsey and Dr. Priestley, 
and by many other virtuous friends of liberty and reform, who 
contributed by their sympathy to alleviate their sufferings, and 
who, with others, raised a very handsome subscription to provide 
necessaries for their voyage and requisites to their future establish- 
ment when they had reached the place of their destination. The 
extreme inhumanity of the sentence passed upon these reformers, 
and the unparalleled severity of the penalty annexed by the 
barbarous law of North Britain to an offence which, if proved to 
its utmost extent, was punishable in the South only by a few 
months' imprisonment, considered in connection with the excellent 
characters of the defendants, who could not in reason be regarded 
as capable of intentionally involving the country in confusion and 
anarchy, excited general indignation and horror ; and that not 
only in England, but in foreign countries. 

" The trial of the Scottish advocate, T. Muir," says a respect- 
able writer in the Altona Journal, a.d. 1794, "who, for various 
endeavours to effect a reform of the Parliament of his country, was 
condemned to be transported to Botany Bay, must excite in the 
breast of every German an esteem for his native land. We here 
see a man sent to Botany Bay on account of an accusation to 
which a German court of justice would have been ashamed to 
listen." 

The legality of the sentence was called in question by many 
distinguished advocates at the Scotch bar ; the punishment for 
leasing-making, i.e. libelling, being expressed by the word banish- 
ment in the Scotch statute, not transportation to another country. 
Upon this ground, when Parliament was assembled in the begin- 
ning of 1794, various motions were introduced by an honourable 
member eminently learned in Scotch jurisprudence, William 
Adam, Esq., with a view to a revision of the Scottish law relating 
to sedition ; to an inquiry into the legality of the sentence ; and, 
finally, to the regulations of the Justiciary Courts of Scotland. 
These motions were overruled ; but from the interest which 
many persons of great weight and influence in the country 
appeared to take in the fate of the prisoners, the sufferers and 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



235 



their friends fondly flattered themselves with the hope that 
the punishment would be mitigated.* But the Administration 
of that day had determined upon ruling by a system of terror, 
unprecedented since the accession of the House of Brunswick : 
and while the conduct of the Scottish courts of justice w r as 
under discussion in Parliament, in the month of March, 1794-, 
these two upright and respectable sufferers, and others in the 
same predicament, were hurried on board the Surprise, a Go- 
vernment transport, and despatched to Botany Bay, among a 
crowd of felons of various descriptions, who were for their 
crimes condemned to the same punishment.f The treatment 
of Mr. Fyshe Palmer on board this ship was so . gross and 

* u The sentence against Mr. Muir and Mr. Palmer," says Mr. Lindsey in bis 
letter to Dr. Toulmin, dated February 20th, "is so unjust, that I can hardly persuade 
myself still that it will be executed, at least till their case has undergone the intended 
parliamentary discussion. My friends say thi3 is hoping against hope. At present 
they are at Portsmouth, and it is said are to remain there a fortnight." ' In a letter 
dated March 8th, Mr. Lindsey writes : " I hear that Mr. Palmer was not quite so 
well at Portsmouth on board the ship, and that their fare and accommodations were 
not such as were expected. However, some of my friends still flatter me with hope 
that Government will not take such a bold step as to send these men away whilst the 
legality of their sentence is questioned, and its discussion pending in the national 
legislature." These flattering hopes, however, proved abortive. And in a letter to 
the same friend, dated May 3, 1794, Mr. Lindsey states, that they had then actually 
set sail, and taken leave of their native country, never, alas ! to return again. " A 
letter from Mr. Scott this day mentions the whole fleet being at length out of sight 
yesterday morning, with a very fair wind down the channel ; and whatever some 
intend, I trust a good Providence carries some to Botany Bay for most important 
purposes of human virtue and happiness." 

The correspondent from whom Mr. Lindsey received this intelligence was the 
Pteverend Ptussell Scott, of Portsmouth, a gentleman of most active benevolence, who 
was indefatigable in offices of kindness to these persecuted reformers while the ship 
which conveyed them remained at Spithead. "Mr. Scott cannot enough be com- 
mended," says Mr. Lindsey to Dr. Toulmin, " for his exertions to serve those worthy 
martyrs, and to see them accommodated with everything needful." 

f u The case of men of education and reflection," says Dr. Priestley, " and who act 
from the best intentions with respect to the community, committing only what state 
policy requires to be considered as crimes, but which are allowed on all hands to imply 
no moral turpitude so as to render them unfit for heaven and happiness hereafter, is not 
to be confounded with that of common felons. There was nothing in the conduct of 
Louis XIY. and his ministers that appeared so shocking, so contrary to all ideas of 
justice, humanity, and decency, and that contributed more to render their memory 
execrated, than sending such men as Mr. Marolles, and other eminent Protestants, 
who are now revered as saints and martyrs, to the galleys, along with the vilest 
miscreants. Compared with this, the punishment of death would be mercy. I trust 
that, in time, the Scots in general will think these measures a disgrace to their 
country." — Dr. Priestley's Fast Serm., 1794. Pref. p. xviii. note. 



^36 MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 

inhuman, as to excite a suspicion that it was never intended 
that he should reach the place of their destination alive ; nor 
would it have been possible for him to have survived the hardships 
he endured, had it not been for the humane attentions of James 
Ellis, a young person who, from affection and sympathy, volun- 
teered his services to Mr. Palmer, and accompanied him to the 
colony as a free settler. Mr. Palmer's own affecting narrative 
of the barbarous severities which he encountered on his passage, 
is contained in a letter to Mr. Lindsey, immediately after his 
arrival in New South Wales, and is inserted in the Appendix.* 

This excellent man lived to complete the period assigned by his 
sentence for his banishment in this dreary country, enduring 
many hardships, but highly respected by all who were themselves 
respectable in this motley community. When the term limited 
for his residence was expired, he, and the faithful companion 
of his fortunes, James Ellis, fitted out a small ship to convey 
them to England, meaning in their way to carry on some 
advantageous traffic in the islands of the Southern ocean ; 
but their little barque was not equal to the undertaking, and 
in a gale of wind it was wrecked upon the coast of Golam, one 
of the Ladrone islands belonging to Spain, with which this 
country was then at war. The Spanish governor made prisoners 
of the ship's crew, and during his imprisonment Mr. Fyshe 
Palmer fell a victim to a fever. 

Mr. Lindsey interested himself very feelingly in behalf of many 

* See Appendix, No. XL In order to justify the severities used to Mr. Palmer, 
and even the infliction of capital punishment if that had been resorted to, the most 
infamous calumnies were industriously circulated against that virtuous sufferer, viz. 
that he was exciting the felons to seize the ship and to take it to America ; a 
report which, for a time, gained too easy credit, but which, as it afterwards 
appeared, had not the least foundation in truth. " Serious apprehensions/' says Mr. 
Lindsey in a letter to Dr. Toulmin, dated November 8, " are entertained by Mr. 
Palmer and Mr. Skirving's friends — I am concerned to mention it — that they have 
been engaged in some mutinous intention of rising and seizing the ship on their 
parting from the grand fleet, and going off to America ; I wish there may be no truth 
in this report.'' In a succeeding letter, dated December 15, Mr. Lindsey expresses his 
conviction that these worthy men were wrongfully accused. " There is reason to 
believe that there have been disturbances on board the Surprise, and that Messrs. 
Palmer and Skirving have been very injuriously accused, as principally concerned in 
fomenting of them." 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



237 



other respectable characters, who at this period suffered by the 
harsh measures of Mr. Pitt's Administration. The Reverend 
"William Winterhotham, minister of a Calvinistic congregation at 
Plymouth Dock, was accused of uttering seditious language in 
two discourses which he delivered from the pulpit ; and upon the 
slightest evidence, such was the ferment of the times, he was 
found guilty, and sentenced to four years' imprisonment in 
Newgate. " I have not read Mr. Winterbotham's trial," says Mr. 
Lmdsey, in a letter to Dr. Toulmin, dated February 8, 1794, 
" but lawyers, and others whom I have seen, declare that there 
never was a more iniquitous verdict." It reminded many of the 
conviction of Mr. Rosewell, a Presbyterian minister in the reign 
of Charles II., for treasonable words uttered in the pulpit, 
upon the evidence of two notorious prostitutes ; concerning 
which, a noble lord who had attended the trial, immediately 
reported to the King at the levee, that he had just seen one of 
His Majesty's subjects, a man of learning and piety, convicted 
of high treason upon evidence on which he would not hang a 
dog. And when Jefferies came in soon afterwards, and bragged 
to the King of the feat which he had performed in inducing the 
jury to convict Rosewell, the King ordered him to arrest the 
judgment, and the prisoner was soon afterwards set at liberty. 
It was hoped by the friends of liberty and justice, that a sentence 
so glaringly outraging every feeling of equity and humanity 
as that passed upon Mr. Winterbotham, would not have been 
carried into execution. But the Administration were inexorable; 
not a single day of confinement was remitted; and the innocent 
sufferer was compelled to drink the cup of bitterness to the very 
dregs. During his confinement he was visited occasionally by 
Mr. Lindsey, who, by his kind sympathy, and by his own great 
liberality, and his influence with his good and generous friends, 
and particularly the excellent Mrs. Rayner, contributed very 
materially to the mitigation of Mr. YTinterbotham's sufferings.* 

* The following extract from a letter of Mr. Winterbotham's, dated Plymouth, August 
31, 1802, will show the grateful sense which that gentleman entertained of the kind- 
ness of Mr. Lindsey and his other benefactors : 

" Pveverend and Dear S.r, — Although I am far separated from you, and possess bpi 



238 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



CHAPTER XIII. 

DR. PRIESTLEY EMIGRATES TO AMERICA. HIS REASONS FOR 
THIS MEASURE. MR. LINDSEY^S JUDGMENT IN THE CASE. 
DR. PRIESTLEY* S FAREWELL SERMON AT HACKNEY. LETTERS 
TO MR. LINDSEY FROM GRAVESEND, DEAL, AND FALMOUTH. 
ARRIVES AT NEW YORK. HIS RECEPTION IN AMERICA. 

The time was now arrived in which the venerable subject of 
this Memoir was destined to experience the severest privation 
which had ever yet fallen to his lot, by the emigration of the 
approved friend of his heart, his fellow-labourer and fellow-sufferer 
in the cause of divine truth, Dr. Priestley, to America. This 
memorable event took place in the spring of 1794. In the 
preface to his Fast Sermon preached in February that year, 

few opportunities of intercourse with you, yet my heart ever contemplates you with 
affection and gratitude ; nor, indeed, can it be otherwise : for while I feel myself 
surrounded with comforts, I cannot, I trust, ever forget the man to whose kindness so 
many of them are owing. Indeed, my dear sir, your name, and that of dear Mrs. 
Rayner, borne by my two eldest boys, has added pleasure even to the sensations they 
naturally inspire, and a parent's heart has dared to indulge the hope that they may 
one day imitate the virtues of those after whom they have been called. 

" Permit me here to thank you also for the present of your last publication,, I have 
perused it with pleasure and profit, although every sentiment therein may not accord 
with my own. And I feel thankful to the Father of Mercy, who thus kindly continues 
to you the faculties of the mind so entire, while your advanced period of life forbids the 
more active labours of the house of Grod. 

"Whatever differences of opinion may exist between us on religious subjects, I hope 
and trust that I shall be enabled to imitate that sincerity of soul of which you have 
given me and the world so brig; t an example. My heart, I can truly say, is alive to 
the duties and the importance of Christianity, and I trust that I am not altogether a 
stranger to its pleasures. I continue my punlic labours, and my aim amidst my little 
flock has been to cultivate that mind that was in Christ Jesus, and to promote those 
dispositions which render obedience to the divine will delightful. I do not labour in 
vain, although my success is not adequate to my wishes. 

" I trust I shall yet have an opportunity of seeing you in the flesh : but if this 
favour is denied, I will cherish and indulge the pleasing hope of meeting you in the world 
of spirits, and enjoying your friendship in a state of immortality through the ages of an 
eternal world." 

It is to be remembered that Mr. Winterbotham is a minister of the Calvinistic 
per.-uaxion. The letter does great credit to the head and to the heart of the writer ; it 
shows that the spirit of Christianity is not limited to any sect or party of Christians. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



239 



Dr. Priestley states the reasons which induced him to leave his 
country : the principal of which were, the removal of his sons, 
the transfer of the greater part of his property to America, and 
the apprehended insecurity of his own person in consequence of 
the rancorous spirit of the times, and the violent measures of the 
Administration. Dr. Priestley naturally enough concluded that 
the same bitter and tyrannical spirit which dictated or enforced 
the cruel and unjust sentences upon Muir, Palmer, and Winter- 
botham, and especially the latter, who was convicted upon evi- 
dence the most suspicious, of an offence of which no reasonable 
person could believe him guilty, and condemned to four years' 
confinement in Newgate, might, upon a similar pretext, which 
could never be wanting if it was sought for, deprive him of his 
liberty, or expose him to political persecution. It is not, indeed, 
probable that the Government of the country, who knew his 
innocence, ever meant to disgrace itself by the direct prosecution 
of the most enlightened and most virtuous of its philosophers. 
It was sufficient for them that a hireling crew had raised against 
him a popular hue and cry; and it cannot be doubted that the 
men then in power would have been better pleased if, after 
having been burned out of his house by a hired mob of ruffians 
at Birmingham, he had fled the kingdom, instead of finding 
an honourable asylum at Hackney. Warned, however, by the 
terrible example of 1780, and even by that of the late riots at 
Birmingham, there is no reason to believe that they would have 
encouraged a mob in the vicinity of the metropolis to have pulled 
down Dr. Priestley's house a second time. And in fact, though 
the venerable sufferer met with a few personal insults at his first 
settlement at Clapton from some of the lowest of the rabble, that 
spirit had entirely subsided ; and had he chosen to have remained 
at Hackney, it cannot be doubted that he would have lived in 
equal security and tranquillity with the rest of his fellow-citizens ; 
admired, beloved, and revered, by a numerous, respectable, and 
continually increasing circle of hearers, pupils, and friends. But 
the high spirit of Dr. Priestley could not brook to hold his liberty 
and security upon what appeared to him to be so precarious a 



240 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



tenure ; and he therefore resolved to seek an asylum in a country 
where, if civilization has not attained to so high a polish as in 
older countries, thoughts, and words, and consciences are free; 
and no restraint is laid upon freedom of inquiry, latitude of dis- 
quisition, or openness of profession upon the most important 
subjects of religion or politics. It was not, however, without 
much regret that this much-injured man bid adieu to his native 
country, nor without indulging the fond hope that he might 
eventually return and end his days in peace in the land which 
gave him birth. But the circumstance which most touched his 
feelings was the loss of the society of his old, tried, and beloved 
friend, Mr. Lindsey, " in whose absence," says he, u I shall for 
some time at least find all the world a blank." * 

But though many of Dr. Priestley's friends, those especially 
who resided in the vicinity of Hackney, and who were naturally 

* The concluding paragraph of this interesting preface is so truly characteristic of 
Dr. Priestley's amiable, affectionate, and ingenuous mind, that I trust I shall be excused 
for inserting it here. 

" The sentence of Mr. Winterbotham for delivering from the pulpit what I am 
persuaded he never did deliver, and which similar evidence might have drawn upon 
myself, or any other Dissenting minister who was an object of general dislike, has 
something in it still more alarming. But I trust that conscious innocence would support 
me, as it does him, under whatever prejudiced or violent men might do tome, as well as 
say of me. But I see no occasion to expose myself to danger without any prospect of 
doing good, or to continue any longer in a country in which I am so unjustly become 
the object of general dislike, and not retire to another where I have reason to think I 
shall be better received. And I trust that the same good providence which has attended 
me hitherto and made me happy in my present situation, and all my former ones, 
will attend and bless me in what may still lie before me. In all events the will of God 
be done ! 

" I cannot refrain from repeating again, that I leave my native country with real 
regret, never expecting to find anywhere else society so suited to my disposition and 
habits ; such friends as I have here, whose attachment has been more than a balance to 
all the abuse I have met with from others ; and especially to replace one particular 
Christian friend, in whose absence I shall, for some time at least, find all the world a 
blank. Still less can I expect to resume my favourite pursuits with anything like the 
advantages I enjoy here. In leaving this country I also abandon a source of main- 
tenance which I can but ill bear to lose. I can, however, truly say, that I leave it 
without any resentment or ill-will. On the contrary, I sincerely wish my countrymen 
all happiness ; and when the time for reflection, which my absence may accelerate, shall 
come, my countrymen I am confident will do me more justice. They will be convinced 
that every suspicion which they have been led to entertain to my disadvantage has been 
ill-founded, and that I have even some claims to their gratitude and esteem. In this 
case I shall look with satisfaction to the time when, if my life be prolonged, I may 
visit my friends in this country ; and perhaps I may, notwithstanding my removal for 
the present, find a grave, as I believe is naturally the wish of every man, in the land 
that gave me birth." 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



241 



most anxious to retain him in the country, allowed perhaps too 
little weight to the arguments for emigration ; there were others, 
possibly equally well informed, and certainly not less interested 
in the result of his deliberation, who thought him fully justified 
in the resolution which he adopted of abandoning, at least for the 
present, a country which no longer knew how to appreciate his 
transcendent merits, and in which his property, and even his 
person, was believed to be no longer safe. In the number of these 
was the venerable subject of this Memoir, to whom the emigration 
of Dr. Priestley must have been a most afflicting event. He thus 
expresses himself upon the subject in a letter to Dr. Toulmin, 
dated January 10, 1794, before Dr. Priestley had made up his 
mind to leave the country ^ — 

" We have seen Dr. Priestley very frequently of late, as also 
Mrs. Priestley, and they are both very well. If his sons do well 
in America, I have no doubt of his following them, but do not 
apprehend that he will remove thither at any time but upon some 
opening or prospect of being prodded for, so as to be useful in 
his own way as a teacher of philosophy. He is now preaching at 
Hackney a course of lectures on the Evidences of the Mosaic 
and Christian Revelations, which he intends afterwards to print ; 
and which, from what I have seen of the former, will be most 
useful and highly seasonable at a period when many in this 
country, and the greater part upon the continent, count all revealed 
religion as a fable, which might be well intended at first, but has 
proved most destructive to the morals and happiness of man- 
kind." 

In his next letter to the same friend, dated February 8, 1794, 
he thus communicates the intelligence of Dr. Priestley's final reso- 
lution : — " I return your son's two letters, which I like much, as 
everything which comes from him.* They show a good mind, 

* The Reverend Henry Toulmin, who was settled with a large and respectable con- 
gregation in Lancashire. This gentleman, when a violent spirit, not discountenanced by 
the Administration of the day, broke out against the Dissenters, and particularly the 
rational Dissenters, soon after the riots at Birmingham, emigrated with his family to 
America, and after some time settled at Kentucky, where he was appointed to the high 
office of Secretary of State, with a salary of about eighty pounds a year ; but this being 

R 



242 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



sensible, active, and ever attentive to the proper business of his 
journeyings. At Dr. Priestley's request, I let him take them 
home with him a day or two since to show to Mrs. Priestley, as 
they are every day more and more interested in what relates to 
America ; and I now believe, in the course of not many months, 
will both of them remove thither. This full decision I have come 
to the knowledge of since I last wrote, though I have for some 
time suspected it. It will cut off a great source of the highest 
satisfaction to me, amongst many others. But I hope it will be 
for his greater good and contentment upon the whole, as his 
family have gone before him ; and 1 have for some time thought 
that his chief business was done here, and we were no longer 
worthy of him, and that he may be of eminent service to that 
other country, retaining still in great vigour his powers of body 
and mind ; and there can be no doubt of the intimate friend of 
Franklin's being there well received/' * 

In this manly way does Mr. Lindsey express his approbation of 
his friend's emigration, though mixed with deep regret. In the 
following extract of a letter to Dr. Toulmin, dated February 20, it 
appears that other intimate and judicious friends of Dr. Priestley 
entertained similar sentiments : " The Doctor has received letters 

which are very encouraging. The family of V here, who 

have two sons (that were both the Doctor's pupils) in America, 
one well settled in Philadelphia, the other in Kennebec, but who 
is part of the year at Boston, all advise and rather press him to 

thought too extravagant, it was reduced to fifty. The Governor of the State was Mr. 
Toulmin's friend. He had been a Baptist minister, and a colonel in the army. His 
revenues were in proportion to those of the Secretary. The fact is that he was a man 
of a liberal and enlightened mind ; and while lie continued at the head of the Govern- 
ment, he and his Secretary introduced many wise and salutary regulations, and con- 
tributed to the utmost of their power to establish order and tranquillity in a state of 
society which was but a few degrees removed from a state of nature and barbarism. 
But their patriotic Administration was not permitted to continue long. After a few 
years, in consequence of one of those political revolutions to which empires are liable, 
another party gained the ascendency, — the Administration was changed, and the 
Governor and Secretary retired to private stations. The President of the Ignited States, 
however, Mr. Jefferson, to whom the abilities and merits of Mr. Toulmin were well 
known, soon afterwards appointed him to the office of Judge in a district of the United 
States upon the river Mobille, which he now fills with great reputation to himself and 
advantage to the community e 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



243 



go, though greatly grieved to lose him hence. As to the Doctor, 
his purpose is certainly fixed to leave England towards April, and 
he is making preparations for the purpose/'' 

In a letter to the same correspondent, dated March 8, Mr. 
Lindsey states : " You will be pleased to know that our friend, 
though we cannot think of losing him without deep concern, has 
taken places for himself, Mrs. Priestley, and two servants, in the 
Sansom, which is to be ready to sail the latter end of this or the 
very beginning of next month. Happily, the other persons, all of 
them emigrants, who are going in the same ship, are known to 
him or his friends." 

On the 21st of February, 1794, Dr. Priestley sent in his letter 
of resignation to the congregation at Hackney, to which, after 
some time, when they found all efforts to induce him to remain 
with them unavailing and hopeless, they returned an answer 
expressive of their veneration and gratitude for his person and his 
labours, their poignant regret at the dissolution of the connection, 
and their affectionate good wishes for his future welfare. On the 
30th of March, he delivered to a crowded auditory a farewell dis- 
course from Acts xx. 32. The subject of it was the "Use of 
Christianity, especially in Difficult Times." It begins with stating 
" the great design of the gospel to raise the sons of men to the 
high character and honour of sons of God, and make them heirs of 
a happy immortality;" it represents " the situation of Dissenters, 
and especially of Unitarian Dissenters, at that time, as calling in a 
particular manner for the exercise of Christian principles ; and 
that the insult and outrage to which they were then exposed, 
though not to be desired, was most favourable to the cultivation of 
that temper of mind which is most eminently Christian, to the 
virtues of patience, fortitude, forgiveness, and heavenly-minded- 
ness." The preacher then shows how much superior these virtues 
are to that courage and zeal which is so generally applauded in 
heroes and martyrs, and of haw much more difficult attainment ; 
and in the true spirit of Christian philosophy he remarks, that 
"we shall be the less disturbed at the malignity of others when we 
consider that our enemies, as well as our friends, are acting the 

r 2 



244 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



part assigned them by the Supreme Ruler of the universe ; that 
they are in their proper place as well as we in ours, though, being 
instigated by their own bad dispositions, this is no apology for 
their conduct ; and that the plan of the great drama in which we 
are all actors is so arranged that good will finally result from the 
evil which we experience in ourselves or see in others." He adds, 
that "all the opposition we meet with makes part of the useful 
and necessary discipline of life, and no great character could be 
formed, or any great good be done, without it; — our Saviour, the 
apostles, the reformers from popery, the Puritans, and Noncon- 
formists, were equally exposed to it. And shall we complain ? 
We must not forget that it is only by discipline, and often very 
severe discipline too, that great and excellent characters are ever 
formed ; and there is a source of satisfaction, even in adversity, or 
nearly connected with it, that persons in prosperity and affluence 
have no idea of." 

In proof of this observation, he cites his own example : " Of 
this I am myself not without some experience. My violent expul- 
sion from a favourite situation at Birmingham was to appearance 
sufficiently disastrous ; and I was not without feeling it to be so. 
Yet I have had more than a recom pence, internal and external, so 
as to make me consider it even now as no evil upon the whole 1 
and I am far from wishing, if it were possible, that it might not 
have happened " The preacher then proceeds to show " that a 
state of suffering is a state of usefulness, no less than one of most 
active exertion." Also, that ' f such a state of persecution as that 
to which we are exposed will tend to purge our societies of luke- 
warm and unworthy members ; of men who prefer the world and 
the things of it to the cause of truth and a good conscience — and 
such are many of the richer sort among us and in all societies- 
men who, by associating with other rich and worldly-minded men, 
and especially those who are within the influence of a court and 
the honours and emoluments derived from it, catch too much of 
their spirit, become assimilated to their manners, and adopt their 
view r s. Let all such go to their proper place ; — we want them not; 
— we want not even their wealth. True Christianity does not sup- 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



245 



pose nor require it. Bat in all cases of persecution, some of the 
most wealthy have proved the most zealous/ 5 It is further re- 
' marked that " true Christians, devoid of superstition, will meet for 
public worship and edify one another, even without the aid or 
expense of regular ministers; — in situations in which ministers 
cannot be had, Christian laymen will, I hope, have the good sense 
to do themselves everything which has been usually done by their 
ministers; and this excellent lesson will be taught more effectually 
in a season of adversity than of prosperity." "It is our pride 
that, as Unitarians, our religion has been so far from being 
befriended, that it has in all ages been frowned upon by the civil 
magistrate; and yet in these seemingly unfavourable circum- 
stances it has constantly gained ground." As an evidence of 
their having imbibed the true spirit of Christianity, the preacher 
recommends that his hearers should "exert themselves in their 
several spheres to extend the knowledge of it to others, and not to 
imagine that this is the business of ministers only. Gladly," con- 
tinues he, " would unbelievers have it to say that all men of sense 
are with them. On the contrary, I am confident that men of real 
knowledge and reflection, as well as men of virtue and integrity — 
men who have given the most serious attention to the subject, and 
men of the most upright and unbiassed minds — are with us. But 
to recommend Christianity to men of reason and reflection, it 
must be made to appear a rational thing. Men cannot embrace 
as sacred truths anything at which their common sense revolts." 
Hence he infers that it is our duty, " if we have any real value for 
Christianity, to exert ourselves to free it from those great incum- 
brances which have already done it the greatest injury, and have 
endangered its very existence." He congratulates the congregation 
upon its honourable denomination of an Unitarian society, and 
augurs the happiest effects from the public avowal of their Chris- 
tian principles. "The opinions," says he, "of single persons are 
often overlooked or disregarded, but a Christian church is a city 
set on a hill that cannot be hid." 

And the congregation having, chiefly upon his recommendation, 
chosen as his successor the writer of this Memoir, the preacher 



246 



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is pleased to say, "I cannot conclude this discourse without 
expressing my satisfaction in your choice of my successor and 
after expressing, in language which it does not become the writer 
to repeat, his persuasion that this successor would carry on plans 
of instruction, public and private, on the same principles with 
himself, he adds, " By making choice of such a person, you have 
greatly lessened the pain that I shall feel from our separation. 
It will appear to me that I am still with you in his person. May 
the connection be long and happy ! " 

Having thus finished what he had to say to his regular audi- 
ence, he closes his discourse with addressing a few hints of advice 
to the numerous strangers which thronged to hear him upon this 
interesting occasion. The introduction to this address is most 
judicious and conciliatory. " Most of you, I presume, are come 
hither from an innocent curiosity to see and hear a person of whom 
you have heard much evil, and perhaps some good, and whom you 
do not expect to hear or see any more. Others, though I hope 
not many, may- have come for some less innocent purpose. These, 
let them have come whenever they please, must have found them- 
selves disappointed, and I hope agreeably so ; as, instead of finding 
any occasion of harm to me, they may have found some good to 
themselves. Nothing else can they have heard here; nothing 
but what is calculated to confirm the faith of all Christians, and 
to inculcate those sentiments of the heart, and that conduct in 
life, which are the proper fruits of that faith." The preacher 
having said a few words to justify his doctrine, though deemed 
heretical, defends it briefly from the charge of sedition. " No- 
thing/' says he, "that can by any construction be supposed to 
have that tendency has ever been delivered from this pulpit, unless 
it be sedition to teach what the Apostles taught before, viz. that 
we are to obey God rather than man ; and that in what relates to 
religion and conscience, we disclaim all human authority, even 
that of king, lords, and commons. In these things we acknow- 
ledge only one Father, even God, and one master, even Christ, the 
messenger or ambassador of God. If any doctrine be really false, 
being contrary to reason and the Scriptures, it is not an Act of 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINBSEY. 



247 



Parliament that can make it true. Or, if any action be morally 
wrong, as being contrary to natural justice and equity, it is not an 
Act of Parliament that can make it be right. But while we thus 
6 render to God the things that are God's/ we render to Caesar 
the things that are Caesar's. We are subject to every civil 
'ordinance of man for the Lord's sake/ though not their ordi- 
nances relating to religion. Learn, then, not to give ear to mere 
calumny. As to us, I trust that we have learned of Christ to 
bless them that curse us, and to pray for them that despitefully 
use and persecute us/' 

The peroration is beautiful and appropriate, and strongly 
indicates the truly Christian spirit of the venerable fugitive : 
"Whether, then, you come as friends or as enemies, whether we 
shall ever see one another's faces again or not, may God, whose 
providence is over all, bless, preserve, and keep us ! Above all, 
may we be preserved in the paths of virtue and piety, that we 
may have a happy meeting in that world where error and 
prejudice will be no more, where all the ground of the party 
distinctions which subsist here will be taken away ; where every 
misunderstanding will be cleared up, and the reign of truth and 
of virtue will be for ever established \" 

Such was the posture of mind, such the dignity of spirit, of 
this first of philosphers and of Christians, when taking leave of a 
country whose reputation he had extended, and to whose in- 
tellectual and moral improvement he had devoted his superior 
energies ; but which, too little sensible of his pre-eminent worth, 
treated him with neglect, and refused redress to his cruel and 
unmerited injuries; and if she did not absolutely banish from 
her shores the worthiest of her sons, she at least appeared to 
withhold from him that protection which he thought essential to 
his security, and to the peaceable and successful pursuit of his 
professional duties and his philosophical inquiries. But the 
spirit of Christianity carried him through all ; and Dr. Priestley, 
in the possession of a good conscience, and in the exercise of the 
mild, forbearing, forgiving spirit of the gospel, was more truly 
happy in his mind, and more enviable in his exile, than the most 



248 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



violent of his enemies and persecutors, on their couches of prefer- 
ment, or their thrones of state.* 

The following Sunday, April 6, Dr. Priestley passed with his 
friends in Essex Street, whose faces he was never more to behold 
again in this world. Dr. Toulmin that day preached for Dr. 
Disney a judicious, seasonable, and affecting discourse, which 
made a very deep impression upon a respectable and numerous 
audience. The next day Dr. Priestley and his family went to 
Gravesend, from which place he addressed the following short 
letter to his venerable friend : 

" Dear Friend, — We were rather unexpectedly summoned by 
the captain to be with him here at two in the afternoon yesterday ; 
and here we met him and all the company, expecting to sail that 
evening. However, we are now actually about to take a boat 
and go to the ship, which lies at the Hope, about six miles 

* After Dr. Priestley had given notice of his intention to leave the country, the 
writer of this Memoir had frequent opportunities of accompanying him in his walks to 
visit and to take leave of his friends. The conversation upon these occasions usually 
turned upon some interesting subjects. Upon one occasion the topic of discussion was 
the second advent of Christ : and Dr. Priestley, who had studied the Apocalypse with 
great attention, inferred, from the state of the world, compared with the language of 
prophecy, that the second personal appearance of Christ was very near at hand. 
" You," says he, " may probably live to see it ; I shall not. It cannot, I think, be 
more than twenty years." Of these twenty years, eighteen are now (1 812) elapsed, 
and the signs of Christ's appearance are not more perceptible now than they were 
twenty years before ; and he must be a sturdy believer who now expects the visible 
appearance of Christ to restore the Jews to their country, and to assume the government 
of the world within two years. Mr. Evanson, who did not in all points coincide with 
Dr. Priestley, agreed with him in expecting the early personal appearance and reign 
of Christ. But his interpretation, with greater prudence, postponed the event for sixty 
3 r ears. I have not, however, heard that either of these gentlemen was quite so unreasonable 
and inconsistent as the celebrated W. Whiston, who having foretold that the world would 
come to an end in twenty years, asked thirty years' purchase for a small estate which he 
had to sell. I mention these facts to show how grievously the most enlightened minds 
may err when they attempt to apply the language of prophecy to passing events, and to 
become prophets themselves, instead of waiting till time unfolds the mysterious volume 
of divine dispensations, and points out the true sense of the prophetic vision. Joseph 
Mede himself is a memorable instance of the egregious mistakes into which learned 
and inquisitive men are liable to fall upon this subject ; who, having supplied the best 
key to the mysteries of the Apocalypse, and given the most rational solution of the 
symbols which are supposed to refer to events which had long been past, interprets two 
of the symbols as relating to the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and to the wars in 
Germany against the House of Austria ; events which, however important to the 
British nation, make little figure in the history of the world, and are far beneath the 
dignity of prophetic notice. 



REVEREND THEOPKTLUS LINDSEY. 



249 



below this place. We spent an agreeable evening, all things 
considered ; Mr. Russell and Mr. Vaughan being of the party. 
The morning is fine, but the wind still west. When we get to 
the Downs it is to be determined whether we go north round 
Scotland or through the Channel. The Pigou sails at the same 
time ; and we hope to keep company. 

" Poor Sally (Mrs. Pinch, his only daughter) is most affected, 
as Mr. P. seems more determined than ever not to follow us ; but 
she hopes that circumstances may arise which will change his 
resolution. However, that resolution will be guided by a will 
wiser than his or ours ; and this is my greatest consolation, 
especially in parting with you and Mrs. Lindsey. 

"Trusting to Mr. J., who said he would take my thermometer 
to Gravesend himself, I shall be obliged to go without it. I 
wish, however, you would see him, and desire him to send it by 
Johnson's package, if it will bear that conveyance. Take also 
any number you please of any of my publications, and dispose 
of them as you think proper. 

" I will write again from Deal, where the pilot leaves us. Yours 
and Mrs. Lindsey' s most affectionately, "J. Priestley." 

" Gravesend, April 8, 1794. 

The next day, April 9, Dr. Priestley wrote to Mr. Lindsey, as 
he promised, from Deal. 

u Dear Friend, — This, I hope, will be the last time I shall write 
to you from Old England. Yesterday we had a fair wind to 
carry us off Margate. We lay-to the greatest part of the night, 
when a fair wind sprung up, to carry us, they say, within an 
hour of Deal, by half-past eight, which it now is. Most of the 
passengers yesterday were ill; my wife most of the day; and 
I did not wholly escape, though I am better than most of 
them. To-day we seem to be all pretty well, just ready for 
breakfast. 

" The cabin passengers are only nine, and promise to be suffi- 
ciently agreeable, though almost all unknown to each other. I 
have barely learned their names. 

" Mr. Lyon, who had but little time to speak to Mr. Russell on 



250 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



the subject of our purchase of land, desires to have one share with 
us, if the subscription be not full. He will be a valuable associate, 
on account of his being an excellent farmer. 

"Our captain has just informed us, that if he falls in with 
the fleet of merchantmen at Portsmouth, he will join them 
for the sake of the convoy : if so, I will write from that place. 

" With my best wishes and prayers for our re-union here, or 
hereafter, yours and Mrs. Lindsey^s, in which my wife joins me, 
most affectionately, 

" J. Priestley." 

The next letter is dated off Falmouth, on Friday evening, 
April 11. 

"Dear Friend, — We came in a very short time opposite to the 
Start, but then, which was last night, the wind changed, and 
turned west ; so that on this account, and likewise apprehending a 
storm from that quarter, we have just dropped anchor in Falmouth 
Road, where we shall stay till to-morrow morning, and then sail 
or not according as the wind shall be. 

" On Wednesday evening we had a strong gale, which continued 
all night and part of the next day. This made all the passengers very 
sick, and my wife and myself among them. I could eat nothing till 
supper. But the next night was calm, and we rose recruited, and 
all this day have been in very good spirits, but much disappointed 
at not being able to proceed on our voyage, when we had got fur- 
ther in three days than the captain says he got in three weeks and 
five days the last voyage. We begin to be acquainted with all our 
cabin, and many of the steerage passengers, and like them very 
well. They are all well-behaved, and good company. The only 
woman cabin passenger is come from France ; knows our friends 
there, and seems well acquainted with the politics of the country. 

" On the whole, I think we shall pass our time pretty well 
during the voyage. I have much time for reading, and shall be 
able to write. I am meditating a discourse on the Causes of Infi- 
delity, led to it by reflections on that of Mr. C. and other intelli- 
gent men. 



REVEREND THE0PH1LUS LINDSEY. 



251 



"I think I shall nearly read my Greek Testament through 
before I get to New York ; and I think I read it with more satis- 
faction than ever. Unbelievers, I am confident, do not read it 
except with a predisposition to cavil. A person waits for our letters, 
and therefore I am, in haste,, yours and Mrs. Lindsey's most 
affectionately, 

"J. Priestley/' 

Here we see what was uppermost in the mind of this truly 
apostolic man. An exile from his country, to which he was never 
more to return, writing in confidence to his most intimate friend, 
whose face he was never to see again, instead of giving vent to his 
feelings in effeminate and unavailing lamentations, he thinks of 
nothing but how he may best fortify his own mind, and confirm 
the minds of others in the grounds and principles of the Christian 
faith as the only solid foundation of virtue and peace. Nothing 
further was heard of Dr. Priestley till his arrival at New York. 
The following is the first letter addressed to his venerable friend 
from the shores of the western continent. Its contents are too 
interesting to require an apology for its length. 

u New York, June 6, 1794. 

"Dear Friend, — I hope you received the letters I wrote from 
Gravesend, Deal, and Falmouth. I now write from New York, 
where we are safely arrived, after a passage of eight weeks and a day, 
owing to our having had none but westerly winds after we got 
clear of the Channel till the last fortnight. We also found the 
coast covered with a thick fog, very unusual at this time of the year, 
so that we were three days before we could get into the bay after 
we reached the coast. 

"We had an excellent ship ; but the captain was not the man 
he had been represented to me. He swore much, and was given 
to liquor ; and the crew very disorderly. However, he made a 
point of behaving in his best manner to us ; and is naturally very 
generous and good-natured. Unfortunately the mate and he did 
not agree ; and no care had been taken of the water- casks, so that 
the steerage passengers suffered much in consequence of it ; and 



252 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



we had many complaints : and if the voyage had been much 
longer, the consequence might have been serious. 

" Our society in the cabin was agreeable enough, though the 
majority were aristocratically inclined ; but all in the steerage were 
zealous republicans, and persons of good character, and several of 
good property. In the steerage also was more religion than in the 
cabin; but they were universally Calvinists, though the majority 
very moderate, as you will suppose, from their applying to me to 
perform divine service to them ; which I did with much satisfac- 
tion w r hen the weather and other circumstances would permit, 
several in the cabin joining us, though some of them were un- 
believers — but for want of information. This is the case with 
Mr. L., a most excellent man, who is now reading my sermons on 
the Evidences of Revelation, — and I hope to good purpose. He, 
like thousands of others, told me that he was so much disgusted 
with the doctrines of the Church of England, especially the Trinity, 
that he considered the whole business as an imposition, without 
further inquiry. 

" The confinement in the ship would not have been disagreeable 
if I could have written with convenience, but T could do little 
more than read. I read the whole of the Greek Testament, and the 
Hebrew Bible as far as the First Book of Samuel, and I think with 
more satisfaction than ever. I also read through Hartley's second 
volume ; and for amusement I had several books of voyages, and 
Ovid's Metamorphoses, which I read through. I always ad- 
mired his Latin versification. If I had a Virgil, I should have 
read him through too. I read a great deal of Buchanan's Poems, 
and some of Petrarch's and Erasmus's Dialogues. All Peter Pin- 
dar's Poems, which Mr. L. had with him, and w 7 hich pleased me 
much more than I expected. He is Paine in verse. 

" Though it was particularly inconvenient to write long hand, I 
composed about as much as will make two sermons, on the Causes 
of Infidelity, which will make a proper addition to the volume of 
my discourses. If 1 do not print them here, I will send you a 
copy. Now that I have access to the first volume of Hartley, in 
the fine edition Mrs. Lindsey gave me, I think I can improve what 



REVEREND TKEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



253 



I wrote. The second volume I had in the ship was an odd 
volume of the set that was destroyed in the riots. 

" We had many things to amuse us in the passage, as the sight 
of some fine mountains of ice, water-spouts, which are very un- 
common in those seas, flying fishes, porpoises, w T hales, and sharks, 
of which we caught one, luminous sea-water, &c. I also amused 
myself with trying the heat of the water at different depths, and 
made other observations which suggest various experiments, 
which I shall prosecute whenever I get my apparatus at liberty. 

"We had some very stormy weather; and one gust of wind as 
sudden and violent as perhaps ever was known. If it had not been 
for the passengers, many of the sails had been lost. 

" I had not much sea-sickness ; but owing to our wretched 
cookery had no appetite for anything till within a fortnight or 
three weeks of out' landing ; but then I was perfectly reconciled to 
everything. My wife was really very ill a great part of the time; 
but at last grew very w^ell, and looks better almost than ever. On 
the whole the voyage has done us no harm, but good. 

" J and his wife had been waiting for us some time. They 

and their brothers are well ; which is a great satisfaction to us. 
We shail probably go with them to Philadelphia before we go 
anywhere else, as I hear there are proposals to be made to me 
about establishing a new T college in some part of Pennsylvania, 
about which you shall know more when I know more. 

" I never saw any place that I liked so well as New York ; it 
far exceeds my expectation, and my reception is too flattering ; no 
form of respect being omitted. I have received two formal 
addresses, to which I have given answers. More, I hear, are 
coming, and almost every person of the least consequence in the 
place has been or is coming to call upon me. This is rather 
troublesome, but it shows the difference of the two countries. I 
am lodged in the house which was the head-quarters of Generals 
Howe and Clinton, in view of the Bay, which is the finest pro- 
spect that I remember ever to have seen. 

" This must be a glorious country ; and I doubt not of finding 
a peaceable and useful establishment in it. When that is accom- 



254 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



plished, my only wish will be to have you and a few other Christian 
friends to come and end their days with as. But we must not 
promise ourselves too much in this world. 

" Say for me everything that a grateful heart can dictate, both 
from myself, my w T ife, and my son, to Mrs. llayner. 

" Yours and Mrs. Lindsey's most affectionately, 

" J. Priestley." 

Dr. Priestley made but a short stay at New York,* where, not- 

* It will not perhaps be uninteresting to read the account of Dr. Priestley's recep- 
tion at New York, by a gentleman who was present at the time, and who soon afterwards 
returned to England, Mr. Henry Wansey,who wrote the following letter to Mr. Lindsey 
from Salisbury, August 28, 1794 : 

" Dear Sir, — A packet was given me by Dr. Priestley to deliver to you, and I fully 
intended calling upon you with it, but could not get my boxes and baggage passed 
through the Custom-house, and was obliged to leave London at last without accomplish- 
ing it ; jour parcel, from over care, having been put into it. I lodged at the same house 
with the Doctor and family at New York, Mrs. Loring's, where you have no doubt 
heard how well and respectably he was received. All the families of consequence, even 
some of the clergy, called to pay their respects, though the latter did not carry their 
civilit} T so far as to offer any pulpir to him during the two Sunda} T s he was there. Dr. 
Rodgers from his pulpit declared his abhorrence of all those who denied the divinity of 
Christ, and he hoped none such would come to his administration of the Lord's Supper. 
Yet Dr. Priestley was not prevented attending divine service there the Sunday after he 
arrived. The violence of the clergy against this doctrine, particularly on Trinity Sunday 
last, has been of as great service as a persecution ; for many principal families of New 
York, chiefly English, have stepped forward, and determined to have an Unitarian 
chapel there. That at Boston, under the care of Mr. Freeman, I observed was well 
attended, and, Mr. Freeman told me, considerably increased. He (Dr. P.) requests you 
will get a minister of pleasing address and a good delivery to come to New York imme- 
diately. The Doctor, whom I accompanied out of New York across Hudson's River, on 
his way to Philadelphia, assured me repeatedly he was perfectly satisfied with the 
change he had made. His reception far exceeded his expectation ; his health and spirits 
were good ; but, however, that he should not enter into public life. At Princeton 
College, I learned from Dr. Smith, the Vice-President, that he would be offered the 
Presidency of a new College erecting in North Carolina ; but he told me he should posi- 
tively decline it, and, after a very short stay at Philadelphia, go up the Susquehanna to 
Northumberland, while his sons went on about forty miles further to put forward the 
new settlement, of which I have so good an opinion that I have taken two shares. 
Many families of my acquaintance are going to the Loyalsoc, and my only fear is 
that they do not proceed with clearing and building till next spring, which is certainly 
losing time. For though the settlement will be rapid after a beginning is made, yet 
losing this season may induce some of those respectable families now going out to fix 
elsewhere. 

" It is a pleasant country ; and the people I found everywhere friendly and hospi- 
table ; a great sobriety of manners ; equality exemplified in its true sense ; nor do I once 
rememb. r to have seen either a beggar or a ragged person. Adieu, dear Sir, and believe 
me, &c. &c.'' 

Tnis sett'eraent upon the Loyalsoc did not answer expectation, and upon further in- 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINBSEY. 



255 



withstanding all the respect shown him by the laity, there was not 
one clergyman who offered him his pulpit, and some thought it 

quiry it was given up. The State prosecutions commenced soon after Dr. Priestley left 
England, and many of his friends were the more reconciled to his emigration, as thinking 
that he might have been some way or other involved in them. But this was not pro- 
bable. A man who joined no political society, who attended no public meetings, and 
who wrote no political books or pamphlets, was not likely to be the object of the 
vindictive animadversion of an Attorney-General. Even Mr. Lindsey's fears seem to 
have been needlessly alarmed upon this subject. In a letter to the Rev. William 
Turner, of Newcastle, dated June 10, 1794, he writes : " Nothing has been known of 
or from Dr. Priestley since his being off Falmouth, between seven and eight weeks 
since. But under the protection of a good Providence, we persuade ourselves that he 
has ere this touched the American shores. And such have been the changes since, 
that some of his best friends who sought to detain him here are now glad at his depar- 
ture. For the prejudices against Dissenters, especially of the more liberal sort, as 
enemies to their country because they are against the present war, are so violent, and 
would have been so much heightened against him, that it might have made his life un- 
pleasant, though I hope not insecure." 

I shall add but one extract more upon this subject from Mr. Lindsey to the same ex- 
cellent person, the son of his old revered confidential adviser and friend at Wakefield. 
The letter is dated November 9, 1794, and strongly expresses the affectionate feelings 
of the venerable writer's heart : 

" I rejoice to hear that you have so favourable an opportunity of bearing testimony to 
such injured worth in exile from our unworthy country, and of recording that intimate 
friendship and union of studies and pursuits, which subsisted between that excellent 
person and your most worthy father. To have any place in the niche with two such 
eminent characters is a real honour. No satisfaction do I know beyond that of recol- 
lecting the hours passed and benefit received in friendly communications with both. For 
some years, particularly when I resigned Catterick, there was no step of importance 
which I took without consulting both ; and the sketch of the Apology, soon after pub- 
lished, they were so good as to take the trouble of meeting, and passing a day with me 
at an inn in Knaresborough, when I read it to them. 

u I have been made happy by several letters received from Dr. Priestley since his 
arrival in America. In his last he mentions a very important matter: the large pur- 
chase of lands on the Susquehanna whs all over. They had been deceived by tbe pro- 
prietors, and by evidence which did not turn out satisfactory, and thus, after much delay 
and some expense, many will be disappointed. 

" In the same letter he says he had an invitation from New York to read lectures 
philosophical, and to open an Unitarian congregation. But he had declined on account 
of the distance from the place where his sons would be likely to settle. I am grieved 
at it, because New York was the place for him, the English American metropolis, 
the inhabitants more cultivated, of most easy access from Europe, &c. &c. This 
concern, however, was a little abated by the subsequent paragraph of his letter, re- 
lating that the Chemical Professor of the College in Philadelphia was believed to be 
on hi> death-bed, and that Dr. Rush had told him that he believed he would be invited 
to succeed t im. This, he adds, will oblige him to four or five months' residence 
in Philadelphia. And as there is a certain prospect of being able to establish an 
Unitarian congregation in the place, he shall not hesitate to accept the offer. 1 ' 

This offer was made and declined, much to the regret of many of Dr. Priestley's 
friends at the time ; but, as there is now reason to believe, not with any eventual 
detriment to the cause of Christian truth. 



256 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



their duty to caution their hearers against Unitarian errors. Many- 
persons were, however, much displeased at thebigotry of their minis- 
ters; and the venerable exile was given to understand that if he would 
fix his residence in New York, a chapel and a congregation w 7 ould not 
be wanting. But his destination was otherwise. He accompanied 
his son, who met him at New York, to Philadelphia, where he met 
with the same flattering attention from the laity, and the same re- 
pulsive spirit from the clergy ; and after remaining there a few 
weeks, he went w r ith Mrs. Priestley to Northumberland, a small 
settlement upon the banks of the Susquehanna, near the western 
boundary of Pennsylvania; and here ; to the great disappointment 
and extreme regret of all his friends, both in Europe and America, 
he determined to fix his residence. Nor could the inconvenience 
of a new settlement, the want of literary and polished society, the 
many and great obstructions to epistolary intercourse with his 
philosophical and theological correspondents, the difficulty of ob- 
taining books and philosophical instruments, nor even the offer of 
the Chemical Professorship, and ultimately of the Presidency of the 
College of Philadelphia, prevail w x ith him to change his resolution. 
The reasons upon which a choice so extraordinary and unexpected, 
and so universally regretted, was founded, were never made known 
to the public. But whatever these might be, and though Dr. 
Priestley's resolution to fix his residence at Northumberland was at 
that time generally disapproved and lamented, the event has shown 
that it was a most beneficial choice. In no other situation would 
it have been possible for him to have commanded the leisure which 
was necessary for drawing up those important, learned, and 
instructive works which occupied his attention to the last hour of 
his life, and by which, being dead, he yet speaketh, and will pro- 
bably continue to speak, and to promote the great cause of Christian 
truth, and particularly the glorious, long lost doctrine of the Divine 
Unity, for ages to come. I particularly refer to his excellent 
Ecclesiastical History, and his judicious and valuable Notes upon 
the whole Bible, which are the result of much reading and reflec- 
tion, though he makes no parade of authorities, a species of osten- 



REVEREXD THEOPHTLUS LINDSEY. 



257 



tation which he always despised, and the neglect of which, to a 
proper extent, may be regarded as a defect in his work much to be 
regretted. 

In this sequestered wilderness the venerable exile maintained 
a regular correspondence with his revered and beloved friend 
the subject of this Memoir, which continued with little or no 
interruption till within a fortnight of his decease. He numbered 
his letters : there are one hundred and four ; all of them now 
in the possession of the writer of this work. They are interesting 
to those who knew and admired and loved the writer, but few of 
them would be interesting to the public. Dr. Priestley thought 
little of himself. He seldom touches upon personal concerns ; 
and gives little account of what it would have been particularly 
interesting to know, the mode of life in a situation so remote 
from, and so unlike to, that of civilized and polished Europe. 
His great mind was occupied in greater things. His whole 
soul was absorbed in the acquisition of knowledge, in the search 
after truth, and in devising and executing the best means of 
communicating information to others. And his letters are chiefly 
occupied in stating what he has done, is doing, and further 
intends to do, for promoting this great object : they breathe 
throughout a spirit of ardent zeal, of rational piety, and of 
active and disinterested benevolence. In the Appendix a few 
are given, as a specimen of his general manner, and of the style 
and spirit of his correspondence.* Dr. Priestley, who had 
originally an excellent constitution, and who generally enjoyed 
uninterrupted health and an uniform flow of good spirits, natu- 
rally and reasonably expected to outlive his aged friend, who 
was ten years further advanced in life than himself. But Divine 
Providence ordered otherwise. This great man gradually declined 
in health, after a severe fever which attacked him in Philadelphia, 
in the spring of 1801, and from which he was by copious bleeding 
with much difficulty recovered. He expired in the bosom of 
his family on the 6th of February, 1804. A most interesting 
account of his last sickness was written by his son, Mr. Joseph 

* Appendix, No. XII. 

3 

I 



258 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



Priestley, in a letter to Mr. Lindsey, which by some means 
found its way into the public papers, and was, it is believed, 
copied and circulated in all the periodical publications in Europe, 
Asia, and America, to testify to the world how a well-informed 
philosophic Christian can die. 

His aged friend bore the intelligence with the calm dignity and 
pious resignation of one who placed entire confidence in the hopes 
and promises of the gospel; and who, feeling the infirmities 
of age advancing fast upon him, expected soon to rejoin his 
beloved fellow-labourer in happier circumstances, and in an 
improved and permanent state of existence, where virtue that has 
been tried and perfected shall receive its appropriate reward. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

dr. priestley's reply to paine's age of reason reprinted in 
england by mr. lindsey, with a preface in vindication of 
dr. priestley's character, mr. lindsey republishes 
another work of dr. priestley^, with a short preface, 
dr. Priestley's acknowledgment of mr. lindsey's kind- 
ness. ANALYSIS OF MR. LINDSEY's LAST PUBLICATION, EN- 
TITLED, CONVERSATIONS ON THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 

When Dr. Priestley arrived in America, he found that Paine's 
Age of Reason had been lately imported into that continent, 
and that by its bold dogmatical spirit, and by its successful attack 
upon those corruptions of the Christian doctrine which usually 
pass for Christianity, and which in this treatise were assumed 
as such, a deep impression had been made upon the minds of the 
unthinking and the unwary ; and that many were seduced by this 
plausible and popular performance from the Christian faith. 
No sooner, therefore, was this zealous advocate for revealed 



REVEREND 



THEOPHTLUS 



LTNDSEY. 



259 



truth settled at Northumberland, than he published an answer 
to Paine 1 s work, in the form of Letters to a Philosophical Un- 
believer, in October 1794, a copy of which he sent over to Mr. 
Lindsey, who reprinted it in England, in the beginnning of the 
year 1795, with a preface, the chief design of which was to vindi- 
cate the character of his absent and much-injured friend. 

" As every event whatever," says this able advocate of exiled 
merit, " every circumstance of the life of every man, is ordained 
and overruled by the infinitely wise and good Creator for the 
virtuous improvement and present and final happiness of the 
universe, and of each individual in it, we may be fully persuaded 
that where man intends evil, God intends and brings forth 
good, and that the best purposes of the Divine government will be 
promoted by the means of those unworthy passions which com- 
pelled this eminent person to take refuge in xlmerica." He adds, 
that " they have begun to show themselves in the reception which 
has been given to Dr. Priestley, and in the general estimation 
in which he is held, notwithstanding the base arts which have 
been used to poison that people's minds, and to turn them against 
him." 

Mr. Lindsey then states, that it was desired and expected 
by the friends of divine revelation in America, that he should reply 
to Paine's Age of Reason, and undertake a cause he was so 
well able to defend ; and he flatters himself that the republication 
of it in England may contribute to rescue some who are " hasten- 
ing to the dreary gulf" of infidelity. 

He puts the question, " What could raise up such a storm 
against so respectable a character as to constrain him to retire 
a voluntary exile from his country, where he was so justly 
loved and esteemed by some of the most exalted characters ? " 
He instances Dr. Price, Sir George Savile, and Mr. Lee, the 
late Solicitor -General, who particularly admired his Letters to 
Mr. Burke, and at whose house " in LincolnVInn-Fields for 
near twenty years the friends were wont to spend their Sunday 
evenings together, whenever they were in town, in cheerful plea- 
santry, and free discussion of all subjects ; for two men more 

s 2 



260 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



formed and furnished for social converse than Dr. Priestley and 
Mr. Lee are rarely found." To the catalogue of Dr. Priestley's 
friends he also adds the respected names of Dr. Shipley, Bishop of 
St. Asaph, and Dr. Law, Bishop of Carlisle, " who was in perfect 
accord with him in his sentiments on most subjects." He 
concludes with the name of Dr. Jebb, to whom Dr. P. dedi- 
cates his Treatise upon Philosophical Necessity. "In that 
beautiful and luminous composition," says Mr. Lindsey, " pro- 
ceeding from the fullness of the heart, and conviction of the 
truth of that glorious principle in which they both agreed, you 
read the true character of the men, and what all may become who 
are under the like influences." 

It is obvious to remark here how cordially Mr. Lindsey concurs 
with his learned and virtuous friends in the belief of the truth 
and importance of what he calls the " glorious principle " of 
philosophical necessity, and in admitting those grand and con- 
solatory consequences which flow from it, "that every circum- 
stance of the life of every man is ordained and overruled by 
the infinitely wise and good Creator " for the best purposes. 
What childish simplicity and ignorance does it betray in some 
to feign or to feel alarmed at the tendency of those doctrines 
which are avowed by such men as Lindsey, Priestley, Hartley, 
and Jebb, and which are represented by them as lying at the 
foundation of all right views of the Divine government, of all 
rational piety and virtuous practice, and of all rational and sub- 
stantial consolation ! And yet such persons feel no alarm at 
the vulgar notion of philosophical liberty, or the power of acting 
differently in circumstances precisely similar ; a notion, the fond 
persuasion of which encourages men to venture into circumstances 
of moral danger, and to which thousands of the young and inex- 
perienced, especially, are daily falling victims. 

To account for the hostility against Dr. Priestley, which even- 
tually compelled that great and good man to seek an asylum in 
America, his friendly advocate states most truly, that " Dr. Priestley 
had an ardent, active zeal for reformation; that, penetrated with the 
most absolute conviction of the reality of the Divine Unity, and of 



REVEREND THEOPKILUS LINDSEY. 



261 



the connection which the belief of it had with the peace, the virtue, 
and happiness of mankind, he hesitated not in his immortal writings 
from the press in the smallest size, and to the level of the lowest 
capacities, as also in larger and more learned volumes, from the 
pulpit also on public and proper occasions, to maintain and defend 
that there was no God but the Father ; and that the worship of 
Jesus by Protestants was equally idolatrous with the worship of 
his mother Mary by the Papists." He adds, that " in nothing did 
Dr. Priestley give more offence, or more excite the ill-will of many 
against him, than by those freedoms in censuring the interference 
of the civil power in things of religion, all usurpation upon con- 
science, wherever lodged, or by whomsoever exercised." And he 
instances particularly in the Doctor's Familiar Letters to the 
Inhabitants of Birmingham. 

Mr. Lindsey then introduces some just strictures upon the 
illiberal reflections cast upon the Unitarians by Bishop Hurd, in 
his Life of his friend and patron, Bishop Warburton. Such 
obloquy, however, so far as Dr. Priestley was the object of it, he 
states was abundantly compensated by the grateful and admiring 
testimony of numbers, both in and out of the Established Church, 
u to his exalted character and extraordinary merits." As a speci- 
men, he introduces some beautiful lines addressed to Dr. Priestley 
by Mrs. Barbauld, whom he justly styles " a genius of superior 
order, and the strains such as Milton himself might have been 
proud to own." The reader, and I trust the elegant and accom- 
plished writer, will excuse me for inserting them at the bottom of 
the page. They were written when a panic was for party pur- 
poses spread through the country, of a plot to overturn the 
Government, and when many fulsome addresses were carried up 
to the throne, and many foul and unfounded calumnies were cir- 
culated against theDissenters, as conspiring to overturn the 
Government, though they have always shown themselves firm 
friends to the illustrious family upon the throne.* 

* Stirs not thy spirit, Priestley, as the train, 
With low obeisance and with servile phrase, 
File behind file advance with supple knee, 
And lay their necks beneath the foot of power ? 



262 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



The friendly advocate next animadverts upon the infamous 
paragraphs circulated in the Times and other Ministerial papers, 
charging Dr. Priestley, who was not present at the dinner, with 
having given as a toast at the hotel at Birmingham, on the 14th 
of July, " Destruction to the present Government, and the King's 
head in a charger;" which, though it could neither be given nor 
received by any persons who were not insane, was nevertheless 
currently believed, and contributed to inflame the frenzy of the 
day. Another paragraph inserted in the True Briton and the Sun, 
replete with falsehood and calumny respecting Dr. Priestley's 
reception in America, is cited by Mr. Lindsey, who also intro- 
duces Mr. Lyon's distinct contradiction and confutation of it. 

The generous and spirited advocate then proceeds to notice a 
cruel attack upon Dr. Priestley, published in America soon after 
his arrival there, entitled, Observations on the Emigration of Dr. 
Joseph Priestley, &c, the design of which was to represent Dr. 
Priestley as a firebrand, an open and avowed enemy to the consti- 

Burns not thy cheek indignant when thy name, 

On which delighted science loved to dwell, 

Becomes the bandied theme of hooting crowds ? 

"With timid caution, or with cool reserve, 

When e'en each reverend brother keeps aloof, 

Eyes the struck deer, and leaves thy naked side, 

A mark for power to shoot at ] Let it be, 

" On evil days though fall'n and evil tongues,'' 

To thee the slander of a passing age 

Imports not. Scenes like these hold little space 

In his large mind, whose ample stretch of thought 

Gra-ps future periods. Well can'st thou afford 

To give large credit for that debt of fame 

Thy country owes thee. Calm thou can'st consign it 

To the slow payment of that distant day, 

If distant, when thy name, to Freedom's join'd, 

Shall meet the thanks of a regenerate land. — December, 1792. 
It is truly gratifying to all the admirers of taste and genius to find that this lady's 
muse, though long silent, has not deserted her. The same genius which inspired the 
strains which immortalized the patriots of Corsica in their struggles with their French 
and Genoese tyrants shines forth resplendently in the beautiful and sublime poem of 
' Eighteen Hundred and Eleven." But as in the former case, the muse, too sanguine in 
her expectations of success, apologized for having " read the book of destiny amiss," so 
may it prove with regard to the gloomy forebodings of the latter poem ! And may 
centuries after centuries elapse, as we trust they will, before the traveller from the 
western continent shall have occasion to inquire, Where once stood -the renowned seats 
of the Muses, the opulent emporiums of Commerce, or the proud Metropolis of the 
world] 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



263 



tution of his country-) &c. It was doubtful whether this scur- 
rilous libel was the production of an author on this or the other 
side of the Atlantic. Mr. Lindsey justly remarks, that "from 
whatever quarter it issued, it is the w T ork of a man who showed 
himself void of truth and of every moral principle, if he were an 
Englishman ; if an American, a gross and ignorant calumniator." 
This pamphlet, by the falsehood of its assertions and the foulness 
of its abuse, was rather of use than otherwise to Dr. Priestley in 
America ; and upon this side of the Atlantic it could do him no 
harm. The British Critic, indeed, with its wonted malignity, 
gave it all the currency it could, by a formal review of this 
" atrocious attack on the most virtuous of men," in the month of 
November, 1794. Mr. Lindsey ably exposes the disingenuous 
and immoral conduct of this band of critics in "deliberately 
adopting and recommending what they could not but know to be 
a tissue of abominable calumnies." And it being understood that 
some persons of literary eminence were then concerned in the con- 
duct of that monthly journal, the author spiritedly expostulates 
with them upon the baseness of their conduct, so unworthy the 
estimation in which upon other accounts they were held. " 0 
moral degradation ! 0 shame to Science ! when its votaries can 
lend their rare abilities, Heaven's gift for better purposes, to 
please the great, and gain their favour, and to lower and depress 
eminent virtue, and hinder others from reaping advantage from 
that example and those w T ritings by which they might be formed 
to goodness, and excellence, and happiness for ever ! " 

As to the work to which this defence of absent and injured 
merit is a preface, Mr. Lindsey says that " a copy of it having 
been put into his hands, he resolved to reprint it immediately." 
He adds, " It soon occurred that it would be desirable and proper 
for me, if I could acquit myself in it in any tolerable manner, to 
take the opportunity that offered, of saying something in behalf 
of an honoured and beloved friend, that might remove or soften 
the violent prejudices entertained against him in this country, and 
in this country only : for in all others his fame is great, and 
his character revered." And having justly animadverted upon 



264 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



the mean, unmanly conduct of his enemies and slanderers, he adds, 
with much truth and pertinence, Cff Dr. Priestley's enemies, how- 
ever, by their ignorant, malevolent detraction, cannot make him 
unhappy, but only hurt themselves. Changing his country, he 
changes not those habits which form the virtuous, the holy, the 
benevolent, the upright character. These constitute happiness ; 
these accompany a man wherever he goes, of which no malice or 
violence can deprive him." * 

In the year 1800, Dr. Priestley published in America a treatise 
upon the Knowledge which the Ancient Hebrews had of a Future 
State, w T hich Mr. Lindsey republished in England with a short 
preface, in which he notices with high satisfaction his honoured 
friend's continued activity as the advocate of true religion; and 
augurs that a his writings will continue to promote this great end 
in his native country and America, and wherever the English lan- 
guage shall prevail, when he shall be no more. A rare privilege 
of Heaven's chosen favourites and the truly good ! " Dr. 
Priestley was highly delighted with this kind testimony of his 
venerable friend, and in a letter dated June 11, 1801, he thus 
expresses his grateful sense of Mr. Lindsey's friendship : — 

* It will not be uninteresting to the reader to see what Dr. Priestley writes to his 
friend upon the subject of his own work and Mr. Lindsey' s preface. 

In a letter to Mr. Lindsey, dated Northumberland, October 16, 1794, Dr. Priestley 
says, " I have nearly printed the Continuation of my Letters to the Philosophers of 
France, and to a Philosophical Unbeliever ; the latter in answer to Mr. Paine's Age of 
Reason, which is much read, and has made great impression here. Nor will you 
wonder at it when you consider what kind of Christianity is preached here. I am 
told that the Quakers read it with great avidity ; and they have no knowledge at all 
of the proper evidence of Christianity, or the doctrines of it. Many of them, therefore, 
in this country either actually are, or are easily made, unbelievers. There are great 
expectations, I am told, from my Answer to Paine, and I hope it will do good." 

July 12, 1795, Dr. Priestley writes, " lam exceedingly glad that you have at last got 
my Answer to Mr. Paine, and that you like it. I wish to see your preface. It cannot 
give more pleasure to you than it does to me to have our names connected in every pos- 
sible method. I hope they will be for ever inseparable. One of my greatest mortifica- 
tions is, that I cannot show you what I write, and be directed by you as usual." 

Dr. Priestley's modest and grateful acknowledgment of his venerable friend's kind 
and zealous vindication of his injured character is thus expressed in a letter dated 
Northumberland, December 6, 1795 : 

" It is not long since I received the copy of your edition of my Answer to Paine. I 
read the preface with much emotion, from a sense of tl-e friendship to me expressed in 
it. If I had laboured ten times more than I have, I should not have thought it too much 
for such a reward/' 



REVEREND 



THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



265 



u I thank you for your very friendly preface. When shall I 
acknowledge my many obligations to you in person ? Not, I now 
fear, on this side the grave. I therefore think the more of the 
state beyond it. But while I remain here, I am thankful that you 
continue here too. I sometimes think, and not without pain, how 
T shall feel w T hen you are gone ; though our separation cannot be 
of long continuance, the difference in our ages not being quite ten 
years; and I do not expect to survive you so long as that, if 
indeed at all. Of what unspeakable value is religion in circum- 
stances like mine ! Without this, I think I should hardly have 
been able to support myself ; but with it, all difficulties, troubles, 
and disappointments are as nothing, being enabled to look 
beyond them." Such was the Christian spirit which animated 
the correspondence of these virtuous friends, who were equally 
distinguished as lovers of truth and examples of piety. 

Mr. Lindsey, now declining far into the vale of years, being 
upon the verge of four-score, but in the enjoyment of perfect 
health, and the full possession of his intellectual and active 
powers, seems to have taken up the design of his old friend 
Dr. Courayer, and to have come to a resolution of laying before 
the public his last thoughts concerning the doctrines of revelation, 
and particularly concerning the wisdom and goodness of the 
Divine administration ; and with this view, in the year 1802, he 
published a small volume, entitled, " Conversations on the Divine 
Government ; showing that everything is from God, and for Good 
to all." This volume is dedicated to Mrs. Sophia and Mrs. 
Frances Chambers, the sisters of the late Dr. Chambers, rector of 
Achurch, in Northamptonshire, Mr. Lindsey's early friend, of 
whom mention has been made in a former part of this Memoir. 
Another brother was an eminent merchant in London, who had a 
country-house at Morden, where these ladies resided ; and in this 
house Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey found a quiet and hospitable retreat 
during the summer season, when they did not take any consider- 
able journey. In the repose and leisure of this delightful man- 
sion, Mr. Lindsey appears to have composed and written this his 
last present to the public ; and he inscribes it to his worthy friends, 



266 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



" in gratitude for unwearied offices of the most disinterested 
friendship, for near thirty years, to himself and Mrs. Lindsey, 
from them and their worthy brother ; and in testimony for their 
enlightened zeal for the worship of the one true God, and a con- 
stant unostentatious readiness to do good." 

In his preface, he observes that the following work results from 
the study and experience of a long life ; and he apologizes for the 
introduction of some repetitions by the remark, that u till a full 
conviction is wrought in the mind that the government of this 
world is the wisest that could have been adopted, and that the 
evils and distresses of life are not permitted but for the good of 
all, the attention of the public cannot be too often solicited for 
the vindication of our Creator. Under the hope of promoting, 
in some degree, the interest of his fellow-creatures in so noble 
a cause, and of leading them to their happiest state, a full con- 
fidence and satisfaction in the never-ceasing love of their Maker 
and God, the following remarks, imperfect as they are, are com- 
mitted to the candour and serious attention of the benevolent 
reader." 

The conversations are supposed to be held at the same place, 
and conducted by the same parties, as those upon Christian Idola- 
try, published ten years before. Victorin, in a letter to his friend 
Volusian, requests him to give some account of a very curious and 
interesting question, upon which they had come to an unanimous 
resolution, viz. " That there is nothing really and ultimately ill 
in the state of man, but everything ordered for the best for all." 
Volusian's reply contains an account of each day's conversation; 
though this incident seems to be lost sight of in the course of the 
work. 

Volusian informs his friend that the company " having fallen 
into conversation upon the very low repute in which the religion 
of Christ was everywhere held, at home and abroad," one of the 
party mentioned that " in Holland and other parts of the conti- 
nent, a little before the French Revolution, a general persuasion 
prevailed that the Christian religion would soon be at an end." 
And he imputes that indisposition to Christianity which appeared 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS L1NDSEY. 



267 



to be rapidly increasing, to the corruption of the Christian doc- 
trine, 

Photinus, in reply, expresses his confidence that Christianity 
would maintain its ground; and ascribes the hatred which the 
philosophers upon the continent bore to revelation, to the inter- 
ference of the civil power in supporting it by pains and penalties, 
which led them to conceive that all means, however dishonest, were 
lawful to overthrow a sanguinary and pernicious superstition. 
Photinus, however, maintains that the religion of Jesus will remain 
unshaken, being confirmed by miracles. He affirms the same of 
the Mosaic revelation, which also rests upon the basis of miracles, 
and of prophecy which is even now receiving its accomplishment. 
He makes some just observations on the nature, use, and prove- 
ableness of miracles. He then briefly states, what he calls "the 
plain old argument for a Deity : viz. that otherwise, the w T orld we 
live in, with all its furniture and inhabitants, must have come into 
being of itself, without any original designing mind." He adds, 
that the most serious difficulty with relation to the Divine existence 
arises from the existence and prevalence of vice and misery in the 
world ; and that if this state of things could by any means be re- 
conciled to perfect goodness, it would provide the best remedy 
against scepticism. Marcellinus, in the name of the company, 
requests Photinus to undertake this task; to which he consents, 
and the conversation is adjourned. 

In the process of the preceding conversation, the author, under 
the character of Photinus, obviates the objection against miracles 
as inconsistent with the Divine immutability, by the supposition 
that " those events which we call supernatural may be the result 
of established laws, and a more comprehensive plan of things, 
though unperceived by us ; so that those operations called 
miraculous are as much the result of general laws as the most 
ordinary events." But the learned writer does not seem to have 
adverted to the fact, that this supposition destroys the very exist- 
ence of miracles, and subverts the argument founded upon them. 
The resurrection of Lazarus, upon this hypothesis, is no more 
miraculous than an eclipse of the sun ; and the prediction of the 



268 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



former, which, according to this theory, would have happened 
whether foretold or not, no more proves the divine mission of 
Christ, than foretelling an eclipse proved the inspiration of Thales. 
This hypothesis is in the highest degree arbitrary and incredible. 
The essence of a miracle consists in its being a deviation from the 
established course of nature ; and the existence of a miracle proves 
a divine interposition, because no being but the Author of nature 
himself could control its laws ; and this violation of the law and 
course of nature in any given case is perfectly consistent with the 
divine immutability ; because, at the instant when the laws of 
nature were fixed, the Supreme Being foresaw and determined that 
in this instance he would, for just and sufficient reasons, deviate 
from that rule of conduct to which it was his pleasure generally 
to adhere. 

The second conversation begins with a vindication by Photinus 
of the character of Lord Shaftesbury, the author of the Charac- 
teristics, as a believer in revelation ; though his Lordship speaks 
lightly of the characters of Abraham, Moses, and others of the 
Old Testament saints, expresses doubts concerning some of the 
narratives contained in the Pentateuch, and hesitates to admit the 
existence of miracles. This is advanced in reply to Volusian, who 
represents Lord Shaftesbury as one of those infidels who entertain 
right views of the character and government of God. How far 
the candid writer, under the character of Photinus, has succeeded 
in his charitable purpose, is not material to inquire. The remain- 
der of the conversation is employed in a very pleasing dissertation 
by Photinus upon the great goodness of God, as manifested in the 
wise and kind provision which he has made for the preservation, 
support, and enjoyment of animal and rational beings ; at the con- 
clusion of which, Marcellinus, after expressing his high approba- 
tion of his friend's doctrine, intimates his apprehension that " it 
would all be regarded merely as a beautiful theory, and these fine 
capacities of the rational nature to be bestowed in vain, and never 
likely to be brought to maturity, when we take a survey of the 
world at large, and scan what mankind have been, and still are, 
in a moral view and he concludes with expressing his hope that 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



269 



Photinus will continue to give his kind help in " exploring this 
momentous subject." 

In the third conversation, Marcellinus begins with making some 
remarks upon the account of the Creation and the Fall, in the 
Book of Genesis, much of which he acknowledges to be " un- 
doubtedly couched in allegory f while it is " to be taken literally 
in other parts, which are at the foundation the moral instruc- 
tion intended, is, however, " not difficult to be understood." 
Photinus, who is the chief speaker in these conversations, having 
expressed his high satisfaction in the suggestions of his friend, 
proceeds to inquire what the history of man teaches concerning 
his attainment of that virtue and happiness for which he is in- 
tended. To this end, he enters into a brief detail of the dispen- 
sations of God to mankind, as they are related in the Jewish 
Scriptures, first offering remarks upon the incidents which occur 
from the Creation to the Deluge, by which " the almighty and 
merciful Being judged it expedient to destroy the w r hole race of 
men from off the earth, all, except one righteous man and his 
family." 

The venerable writer then proceeds to comment upon the divine 
communications to Noah, to Abraham, and to Moses, and the 
effect which they produced in restraining the vices of mankind, 
and in promoting virtue and piety. He contends earnestly for the 
excellency of the character of the Jewish legislator, the credibility 
of his history, and the divine authority of his institute, and repre- 
sents those persons as "true objects of pity who, through some 
unfortunate bias on their minds, are led to reject a history of facts 
so well authenticated as those which have Moses for their author." 
He adds, not altogether in that spirit of candour which was 
habitual to Mr. Lindsey, that " one is the more concerned for this 
incredulity, because the rejection of the important truths conveyed 
in these books, most commonly springs from a fixed determination 
not to admit any accounts, however well attested, of divine extra- 
ordinary communications and revelations to mankind." But, 
surely, if the venerable writer had for a moment reconsidered the 
case with his usual calmness and impartiality; he would have seen 



270 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



that a person may be a very firm believer in the divine mission and 
doctrine of Christ, and be well satisfied with the general evidence 
of the divine legation of Moses, while he at the same time may 
entertain very serious doubts whether the books commonly attri- 
buted to Moses were really throughout written by him, and 
whether either the narrative or the institute exist at present 
exactly in the form in which he delivered them. And these 
doubts may be so far from springing " from a fixed determination 
to admit no doctrine as revealed/' that they may originate in an 
anxious concern to extricate revealed truth from those human ad- 
ditions by which it is corrupted and disgraced. The respectable 
writer, therefore, may perhaps be regarded as not quite correct 
when he adds, in a tone of sarcasm unwonted with him, that " so 
long as such a person cannot be brought to see his error by the 
arguments laid before him, you can only be sorry for him, and wish 
him a mind more teachable and better informed." 

Photinus next goes on to justify the extermination of the 
Canaanites by the Israelites as an act of obedience to a divine 
command, and makes light of an argument sometimes offered in 
defence of this command, as being analogous to events which 
take place under the natural government of God, where human 
beings are " destroyed promiscuously by earthquakes and the 
like : as this is a defence which some are dissatisfied with, not 
holding the cases to be parallel." And it cannot be doubted, 
that if a divine command is proved, all objections must give way. 
If God required this great public execution, it must be consistent 
with the Divine character to issue this decree ; and if he manifested 
his displeasure by repeated miraculous interpositions, the conduct 
of these chosen executioners of the Divine will must be justified 
to themselves, to the world, and even to the miserable sufferers, 
by the terrific mandate. So that the history is consistent. God 
does what he has a right to do, and the Israelites are the innocent, 
and even meritorious, instruments of executing his sovereign 
pleasure. The case, however, is attended with difficulty ; and it 
must be allowed to be a very alleviating circumstance, if it can be 
shown that the order thus issued is analogous to what happens fre- 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



271 



quently under the Divine government. He that made has a right 
to destroy; and the wise and just Being, who makes use of natural 
calamities for the promiscuous extermination of myriads, has an 
equal right to use voluntary agents as the instruments of inflicting 
similar calamities. But the fact which applies still more closely to 
the case in question is, that the righteous Governor of the world 
does continually employ voluntary agents as the executioners of 
his will in the destruction of their fellow-creatures. Nebuchad- 
nezzar is the rod in the Divine hand to execute his vengeance upon 
Tyre and Egypt ; and a Caesar, or a Napoleon, are equally the in- 
struments of spreading desolation and destruction among the 
human race, as a Joshua or a David, though not equally innocent : 
one, if we credit the history, acting under a divine commission ; 
the other, prompted by bad passions and sanguinary ambition. 
The purposes of infinite Wisdom are fulfilled as well by the evil 
actions of evil men, as by the good actions of the virtuous. And 
this, without any diminution of the responsibility of the agent. 
Such is the express doctrine of the Scripture, in perfect harmony 
with the true philosophy of the human mind. 

The venerable author supports his own assertions and views of 
the institutes of Moses and the conduct of the Hebrew nation, by 
an appeal to the authority of Dr. Priestley. " See/' says he, 
" that last and most invaluable work, his Comparison of the In- 
stitutions of Moses with those of the Hindoos, of my most 
beloved friend Dr. Priestley. Although now far separated during 
this transitory life, on the verge of which we both stand, there is 
humble hope of meeting again when the sleep of death is over. 
His numerous works will continue to enlighten the world till the 
only true God will be more universally known, and the pure gospel 
of Jesus, his messenger, have its natural influence." 

Photinus next proceeds to state the great moral benefit which 
the heathen world derived from its enlightened philosophers and 
legislators, particularly Socrates and Cicero, the distinguished 
moralists and instructors of Greece and Rome in the ages in which 
they flourished ; at the same time acknowledging that the fairest 
characters in heathen story were clouded with many inconsisten- 



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cies and imperfections, and that their instructions were ineffectual 
for the reformation of mankind : " nothing was done to recover 
men to the knowledge of the true God and their obedience to 
him ; " nor " to put men upon attending to the inward principle 
of their actions, and amending their dispositions." 

This naturally introduces the necessity and advantage of the 
gospel dispensation which was now introduced into the world, and 
which was to be made known to the whole human race. " This 
was the new doctrine promulged from heaven, holding forth the 
supreme love of God, the common Creator and Benefactor, mani- 
festing itself in the love of their fellow-creatures and seeking 
their good as their own, as the sum and substance of all human 
duty and of all true religion, and leading to the highest perfection 
and happiness." This divine religion, however, was soon cor- 
rupted ; " objects of worship were multiplied, the mother of Christ 
and other dead persons, male and female, a trinity of three per- 
sons in God, instead of the single person of the God and Father 
of oar Lord Jesus Christ and of all mankind." So that, " to 
preserve the important doctrine of the Divine Unity from being 
overwhelmed and lost in Christian idolatry, Divine Providence seems 
to have permitted the impostor Mohammed to succeed in spreading 
his new religion over a great part of the globe." This religion 
professed to stand upon the great doctrine of the Divine Unity ; 
in which, as some think, he was at first sincere ; but being elated 
with success, he grew ambitious, insolent, and cruel, and propa- 
gated his religion by fire and sword. 

Volusian here interposes, and enlarges upon the folly of ascrib- 
ing to God " a religion, whose first article is a direct violation of 
the first law of nature, in compelling by force to acknowledge and 
worship him." He insists upon the absurdity of persecution in 
every shape ; and he observes, that Christians cannot, with any 
decency, " condemn the Mohammedans for intolerance and 
cruelty," being themselves equally guilty ; and represents it as a 
very great error, and that which lies at the foundation of all reli- 
gious bigotry and persecution, to teach that Christians only can be 
saved, much more " Christians only of this or that particular 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



273 



church or sect;" whereas the truth is, that "all persons will 
be saved who are made pious and good by their religion, and none 
else." 

Photinus in his reply expresses his approbation of Volusian's 
principles ; and, proceeding in his history of divine dispensations, 
he takes notice of the increased diffusion of light and knowledge 
by the dispersion of learned Greeks through Europe, after the 
taking of Constantinople by the Turks in the fifteenth century, 
and by the invention of the art of printing. He adds, that much 
good had been done "by the noble efforts of many excellent Chris- 
tians, at the hazard, and sometimes the loss, of life, to revive and 
restore the worship of the true God, and to vindicate the inalien- 
able right of all men to judge for themselves of the things of 
God." And he expresses himself in terms of high commendation 
concerning the religious liberty which had lately been established 
in France. Photinus concludes his long discourse with the general 
inference that, though the little effect of genuine virtuous prin- 
ciple, and the defective knowledge of God, too much appears in 
wars and persecutions, yet " it would be unfair and unjust not 
to admit that knowledge and virtue have been upon the whole 
progressive, and that very many eminent examples of both have 
been formed, and are forming, in every age and country." 

Photinus, after a pause, expresses his apprehensions, that " the 
account which had been given of the moral state of the world 
might not be acceptable to those who look for perfection all at 
once in everything that comes from God. But as we are convinced 
that a Being of all goodness has, in fact, appointed otherwise, and 
as we certainly do not love our fellow-creatures nor desire their 
improvement and happiness more earnestly than he that made 
them, and his wisdom can best judge and direct how to attain 
that happiness, we may probably find that the methods he has 
actually chosen are fully suited to answer this end, though we may 
not immediately see it." 

He then proceeds to give a brief detail of the discipline by 
which the moral character is usually formed ; the result of which 
he states to be, that " the bulk of mankind are, and have ever 

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been, employed in useful labours for their families, and in doing 
good offices to others, their friends, neighbours, and acquaintance, 
and in giving or procuring relief and assistance where needed, and 
in a thousand beneficent actions." This favourable view of the 
human character he confirms by a curious quotation from Arch- 
bishop King, on the Origin of Evil.* And Photinus concludes 

* The sentiments expressed by the learned prelate are so uncommon, and at the same 
same time so just, and so exactly coincident with those which the writer of this Memoir 
has offered to the public in a work printed some years ago without any consciousness 
that they had before met with so able an advocate, that he will take the liberty of tran- 
scribing a considerable part of the quotation alluded to above, 

The Archbishop is replying to an anonymous opponent who had said, "that the 
prevalence of wickedness or moral evil is a thing so certain, that he was confident no 
one could have the least doubt of it, and he durst say the author (the Archbishop) him- 
self believed it." 

" The author professes himself to be of a quite different opinion/' replies the Arch- 
bishop. " He firmly believes, and thinks he very well comprehends, that there is much 
more moral good in the world than evil. He is sensible there may be more bad men 
than good, because there are none but do amiss sometimes, and one ill act is sufficient to 
denominate a man bad. But yet there are ten good acts done by those we call bad 
men, for one ill one. Even persons of the very worst character may have gotten it by 
two or three flagrant enormities, which yet bear no proportion to the whole series of 
their lives. The author must profess, that among such as he is acquainted with, he 
believes that there are hundreds who would do him good for one that would do him 
hurt, and that he has received a thousand good offices for one ill one. He could never 
believe the doctrine of Hobbes, that all men are bears, wolves, and tigers, to one 
another ; that they are born enemies to all others, and all others to them ; that they 
are naturally false and perfidious ; or that all the good they do is out of fear, not virtue. 
Nay, the very authors of that calumny, if their own character were called in question, 
would take all possible pains to remove the suspicion from them, and declare that they 
were speaking of the vulgar; of the bulk of mankind, and not of themselves. Nor, 
in reality, do they behave in this manner toward their friends and acquaintance ; if 
they did, few would trust them. Observe some of those who exclaim against all man- 
kind for treachery, dishonesty, deceit, and cruelty, and you will find them diligently 
cultivating friendship and discharging the several offices due to their friends, their rela- 
tions, and their country, with labour, pain, loss of goods, and hazard of life itself ; even 
where there is no fear to drive them to it, nor inconvenience attending the neglect of it. 
This, you will say, proceeds from custom 4k& education. Be it so. However, the world 
then has not so far degenerated from goodness, but the greater part of mankind exercise 
benevolence ; nor is virtue so far exiled as not to be supported and approved, praised 
and practised, by common consent and public suffrage, and vice is still disgraceful. 
Indeed, we can scarce meet with one, unless pressed by necessity or provoked by in- 
juries, who is so barbarous and hardhearted as not to be moved with compassion and 
delighted with benevolence to others ; who is not delighted to show goodwill and kind- 
ness to his friends, neighbours, children, relations, and diligence in the discharge of 
civil duties to all ; who does not profess some regard to virtue, and think himself 
affronted when he is charged with immorality. If any one take notice of his own or 
another's actions for a day together, he will, perhaps, find one or two blameable, the 
rest all innocent and inoffensive. Nay, it is doubted whether a Nero or Caligula, 
a Com modus or Caracalla, though monsters of mankind, and prone to every act 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LTNDSEY. 



275 



the conversation with observing, " that thus the wisdom and good- 
ness of the Creator are vindicated ; that he was not disappointed 
in the noblest work of his creation here below ; and that the world 
has been from the first, and all along, a nursery for virtuous, noble, 
and useful characters/" 

The fourth conversation is short, but by far the most interest- 
ing and impressive of the whole. In this, the venerable author 
states and argues, with a warmth of feeling which shows how 
deeply his own heart w T as impressed wdth the magnificent specula- 
tion, and with a cogency of argument which can never be refuted, 
that all things are from God; that evil as well as good, moral as 
well as natural evil, are not only permitted, but appointed by 
infinite unsearchable wisdom and benevolence. 

The conversation is introduced by Marcellinus, who observes 
that if evil be the result of the " untractable nature of matter," 
or of " a powerful evil being whose interference is unavoidable, 
we must submit, and make the best of what we cannot avoid or 
amend. But all gloom would vanish, if it could be shown that 
the great whole of things is in such sort from God, that natural 
and moral evil are all of his appointment, and permitted for 
good." 

Photinus with great solemnity replies, " Be assured, my friends, 
that we do not, any of us, deem so highly of the boundless mercy 
and goodness of the sovereign Creator and Parent of all things as 
his works and dealings with us and with all his creatures call for 
and demand, or we should entertain more exalted thoughts of him , 
and live under his government with a more uninterrupted joy and 
confidence than we seem to do ; so as not to admit any the least 
doubt or mistrust that his goodness will in the end bear down 
every opposition." 

After this eloquent exordium, having stated that "we behold 
everywhere, and in all things, wise contrivance and intentions of 
kindness," also that the rational creation are formed by their 

of wickedness and fury, have done more ill than innocent actions through their whole 
lives." 

See Bishop Law's Translation of Archbishop King's Origin of Evil, p. 388, fifth 
edit. See also Belsham's Elements of the Philos. of Mind, p. 397-403. 

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MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



great Creator " to be happy with his own happiness," in 
" supreme love to him and invincible affection to all our fellow- 
creatures ; " he lays it down " as a safe and solid foundation of 
reasoning, that as the universe and all things in it are made to 
produce happiness, and as there was nothing to overrule him in 
his operations, such a discordant revolting mixture as vice and 
misery would not have been admitted, but because he saw it 
necessary for the fulfilment of his benevolent purposes, or rather 
because those purposes could not be obtained without it." 

This, which is probable in theory, Photinus proves " to be true 
in fact ; " for, if there had been no moral evil, mankind would 
have been destitute of those dispositions and affections which are 
their highest perfection, and the source of their purest happiness. 
Where would have been patience and forgiveness of injuries; 
where the godlike disposition of returning good for evil ; if there 
had been no fraud, or cruelties, or oppression ? " Had the good 
and virtuous of mankind been wholly prosperous," says an excel- 
lent person ; " had goodness never met with opposition, where had 
been the trial, the victory, the crown of virtue ? " He concludes 
with the important and sublime inferences, " So that, as it has 
been justly said of natural evil, pain, diseases, and the like, in 
vindication of the divine goodness, that there is no useless evil ; 
so must we say of moral evil, sin, and wickedness, that, in the 
hands of God, every evil of every kind is made an instrument of 
greater good and higher felicity than would otherwise have been 
enjoyed." 

Here Volusian, in a kind of ecstasy, interrupts Photinus to 
express his delight in the satisfactory solution which his friend 
had given of this most difficult of all problems, the introduction 
of moral evil. And he laments that the great Frederic and his 
friend D'Alembert, rather than acquiesce in this easy and pro- 
bable hypothesis, should have assumed that the Deity, if he 
exists at all, is an evil and imperfect Being; that Christianity is 
untrue; and that there is no future life in which the difficulties 
and obliquities of the present state would be solved and rectified \ 
while he applauds the opposite conduct of M. Turgot, the able 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



277 



and disinterested minister of Louis XVL, who, though, under the 
influence of invincible and inevitable prejudices, he rejected the 
Christian revelation, entertained just ideas of the Divine character, 
and was a believer in a future life. 

Photinus, resuming his discourse after Volusian had finished, 
observes, "that it is matter of the highest exultation and joy, in 
which we may justly triumph, to be fully assured that mere 
arbitrary will and sovereignty, from which we could never know 
what we were to expect, has no sway in the divine government 
under which we are placed; and that original love and goodness 
are the beginning and end, the spring and measure, of all the 
actions of the Deity, and of all his dealings with us. Hence we 
conclude, that every evil of every kind is ordained for present or 
ultimate good. All natural and moral evils are from God, and 
under his sovereign control." 

To guard against the abuse of this sublime doctrine, Photinus 
remarks, that "we frail, ignorant creatures are on no account to 
transgress the plain rule of moral duty, and to do evil that good 
may come ; because our understandings are weak and limited, and 
we cannot be sure that the good we intend will happen. But our 
Maker, out of that limited quantity of evil which he judges fitting 
to appoint or permit, continually produces virtue and every good." 
And he offers some observations to obviate the common objection 
that this doctrine represents God as the author of sin. 

" We shall avoid," says Photinus, " some of the perplexity and 
difficulties in which good minds are wont to be involved, from the 
idea of the evil actions of men being of divine appointment, as 
though God himself were the immediate author of sin and wicked- 
ness, if we consider that the Almighty Being, if we may so 
speak, acteth not immediately himself in directing the actions of 
men and influencing them to good and evil, but by the interven- 
tion of second causes; in other words, it is by the different 
motives which arise in our minds from our situation and circum- 
stances, which are all of divine appointment, that we are led to 
evil and to good." Upon this supposition he explains the case of 
Lydia, whose heart the Lord had opened, and that of Pharaoh, 



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MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



whose heart was hardened. He afterwards adds, that " though 
we cannot but be persuaded that all the actions of men are under 
the antecedent appointment and direction of God (for how could 
he otherwise govern the world ?), yet mankind are not a mere 
piece of clock-work, a set of unconscious machines. They acquire 
voluntary powers, by which they do what they please, choose for 
themselves, and follow their choice ; take blame to, and condemn, 
themselves when they do what is wicked; and, more than this, 
think themselves not unrighteously dealt with in being made to 
suffer for their evil dispositions and actions in order to correct and 
amend them ; nor, if they continue unreformed, to expect to 
escape punishment in a future state. So that, if God be charged 
in any way with being the author of men's sins, it is not in any 
such sense as to acquit the perpetrators, or to excuse them even in 
their own estimate from being responsible." Photinus sums up 
his argument by stating that " we are conscious that we are not 
mere puppets acted upon, but agents responsible for what we do. 
We are also fully persuaded, that all we do is beforehand known 
to God, and appointed by him. How this divine knowledge and 
appointment are to be reconciled to the freedom and responsibility 
of our actions, is beyond our comprehension ; nor need we be at 
all concerned about it." And he pleads Mr. Locke's declaration 
and example for giving it up as an inexplicable difficulty. 

The venerable writer's solution of this famous difficulty does not 
appear to be perfectly satisfactory. The question may be con- 
sidered either popularly or philosophically. As a popular ques- 
tion, it is sufficient to state, that vice and wickedness, arising from 
the bad passions of men, will and ought to be punished here or 
hereafter ; and, which is indeed true, that the foreknowledge of 
God makes no difference either in the crime or the punishment. 
But if the inquisitive mind, pursuing the inquiry in a philoso- 
phical way, is brought to the conclusion, which the venerable 
writer so clearly and forcibly states, that all evil, natural and 
moral, proceeds from God, and that vice, as well as misery, is of 
divine appointment, it becomes a serious question, and appears 
under the shape of a formidable objection to this sublime doc- 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



279 



trine, Does it not make God the author of sin ? And is not God 
unrighteous in punishing sinners ? Nor will such an inquirer be 
satisfied with being told that God does not act directly upon the 
will, but through the medium of motives ; and that we are con- 
scious that we are not puppets, but responsible agents, and that 
guilt is deserving of punishment. For in the first case it will 
immediately occur, that the cause of the cause is the cause of the 
foreseen effect ; and that to leave a child upon a bank, from which 
it will inevitably roll into the river, is the same as to push him in. 
And in the second case, it is asked, Where is the justice of pun- 
ishing what was inevitable ? 

The true solution of the first difficulty, whether God be the 
author of sin ? appears to be this, that God is, strictly speaking, 
the author of evil ; but that, in the first place, he never ordains 
or permits evil but with a view to the production of a greater 
good, which could not have existed without it. And, secondly, 
that though God is the author of evil both natural and moral, he 
is not the approver of evil ; he does not delight in it for its own 
sake ; it must be the object of his aversion, and what he 
would never permit or endure if the good he intends could have 
been accomplished without it. As to the second question, con- 
cerning the justice of punishment, the best and only philosophical 
solution of it is, that under the divine government all punishment 
is remedial. Moral evil is the disease, punishment is the process 
of cure, of greater or less intensity, and of longer or shorter 
duration, in proportion to the malignity and inveteracy of the 
distemper, but ultimately of sovereign efficacy under the divine 
government to operate a perfect cure ; so that those whose vices 
have been the means of proving, purifying, and exalting the 
virtues of others, shall, in the end, share with them in their virtue 
and their triumph; and the impartial justice and infinite benevo- 
lence of the Divine Being will be made known, adored, and cele- 
brated to all eternity, through the whole created universe. But to 
return to the author : 

Photinus having finished his discourse, Synesius rose to speak ; 



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MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



but the company agreed to defer the conversation to another 
opportunity. 

In the fifth conversation, Synesius takes the lead. This gentle- 
man, a real character it should seem in the Conversations upon 
Christian Idolatry, is represented as a blunt man, of sound under- 
standing, zealous for the church, though seldom seen within its 
walls, and not much attached to its peculiar doctrines. He intro- 
duces the conversation with a profession of his conversion, and a 
recantation of his past errors, particularly in his doubts concerning 
the Divine character, his scepticism concerning the Mosaic cosmo- 
gony, his account of the primitive dispensations of God to the 
human race, and the destruction of the Canaanites : he expresses 
his great satisfaction in the (C vast care and attention " which the 
writers of the Old Testament display in " teaching and holding 
forth " the Unity of God ; and wonders that at this time of day 
Mr. De Luc should take so much pains to " deprive us of the one 
true God, and introduce in lieu of him a God consisting of three 
persons/' upon the authority of the exploded text of the heavenly 
witnesses, which the Bishop of Lincoln, " to the credit of his 
judgment and integrity." gives up as spurious. Synesius further 
expresses his satisfaction in the solution given to the great diffi- 
culty, that " Christianity should have done so little to reform the 
world : v and he particularly admires Dr. Adams's judicious and 
temperate reply to the severe and unfounded sarcasms of Mr. 
Hume upon the Jewish nation, and their sacred writings, citing at 
length both the objection and the reply. Synesius then notices 
the character of Abraham, and enters into a defence of the 
account of his offering up his son Isaac, first in the words of 
Archbishop Tillotson, and afterwards by some observations of 
his own. 

In conclusion, Synesius observes that his friends, after all, u had 
left untouched a main difficulty which Christianity puts in their 
way, by teaching the doctrine of endless punishments." They 
had indeed shown, that virtue naturally leads to happiness, and 
vice to misery ; and that in the state after death, as we continue 
under the same laws and divine moral government, those severe 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



281 



punishments which await evil-doers must, in the progress of in- 
finite ages, produce a return to virtue and goodness." He further 
submits to their consideration, that " as the Scriptures teach that 
all the dead shall be raised and judged according to their works, 
and do thereby implicitly give us hope, may we not rather say, 
give us humble assurance, that the gloomy sentence of annihila- 
tion will not pass on any of our species ; for we cannot entertain a 
thought that our benevolent Creator would bring back his 
creatures to life to put them on the rack as it were, and make 
them suffer for a time and then consign them to their primitive 
nothing ; we may, therefore, make this inference, that none of the 
human race will be consigned to fruitless, unavailing suffering 
and misery for ever, but that, by the discipline to which they will 
be doomed, all will be brought to repentance and be saved." He 
further professes, that "the threatenings of eternal punishment in 
the gospel have long since ceased to make any impression upon his 
mind, being counterbalanced by contrary declarations that God 
loveth all his creatures, and would not that any should perish, but 
that all should have everlasting life ; " and he cannot be disap- 
pointed in his purposes. 

Synesius having ended his harangue, Photinus applauds the 
observations of his friend, and particularly "what he had done to 
relieve the gospel from the imputation of holding forth the 
doctrine of eternal torments, a mill-stone which some mistaken 
Christians had hung about it, and thereby alienated the minds of 
many." He then proceeds to state, that "the words eternal, 
everlasting, for ever, and the like, generally signify limited periods 
of duration : so that our Saviour meant only to express that the 
sufferings of a future state would be of an exceeding long duration, 
and thereby to enforce the necessity of attending to the divine 
laws, and the dreadful danger of violating them ; 9 \ and he con- 
cludes the conversation with a pertinent quotation from Dr. 
Hartley's Observations on Man, in which that great philosopher, 
with his usual acuteness and strength of argument, establishes 
the joyful doctrine of the " ultimate unlimited happiness of all 
mankind. " 



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MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



In the sixth and last conversation, Synesius is again almost 
the only speaker. Having observed to Marcellinus, that after 
having hinted at the existence of an evil spirit as one of the sup- 
posed causes of the " great misery and wickedness complained of 
in the world, he had afterwards been wholly silent about it; " he 
represents the vindication of the divine goodness as very " lame 
and defective/' unless they can show the insufficiency of the 
evidence produced to prove " the existence of such a foul 
malignant fiend," and " begs permission to state his own 
thoughts upon the subject, which he had with some diligence put 
together." The company havmg expressed high satisfaction, 
Synesius enters with alacrity upon the interesting argument. He 
first expresses his surprise that it should be so generally current 
with the learned as well as the unlearned, that the serpent who 
tempted Eve was a wicked spirit, when Moses gives no such 
intimation, and never alludes to the existence of any such evil 
being in any of the five books ascribed to him. 

The word Satan in the Old Testament is only used to signify 
an adversary, which is its proper meaning. And that the Jewish 
Scriptures contain no revelation of the existence and agency of an 
evil spirit is evident, because " we perceive not in them any 
religious exhortations or cautions to beware of the wiles and power 
of such an evil being from first to last." 

Synesius further argues, that " as the Christian Scriptures cer- 
tainly contain no new revelation of an evil being, and as the Jewish 
Scriptures did not teach it, the Jews must have acquired this 
notion during the captivity, and probably from the Chaldeans 
among whom they dwelt." This doctrine was incorporated into 
their theology, and their language framed and accommodated to 
it ; and this would remain in common use even after the doctrine 
itself was given up. " And to this language our Saviour and 
his apostles would conform themselves, though there be no good 
reason to think that either the one or the other gave credit to 
the reality of this evil being." 

The speaker having remarked that no evil being had any 
concern in Christ's temptation, proceeds to state our Lord's own 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



283 



sentiments concerning Satan ; and shows — 1. " That Christ very 
commonly uses the word in its primary sense, as signifying an 
adversary, as when he said to Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan. " 
2. " There is no reason to believe that he ever means to imply 
that there was in reality any such being f 3 for example, by the 
expression, " I saw Satan as lightning fall from heaven/' he means 
nothing more than selfish worldly desires, hatred of God and 
goodness, &c* He then adduces many passages in which the 
word Satan, devil, &c, are used figuratively to express the prin- 
ciple of evil in general, or evil habits and affections in particular. 
And from various citations from the Acts and the Epistles he 
draws the conclusion, that "the apostles of Christ, like their 
great Master, seem not to have understood that there was any 
devil or evil being without them whom men need to be afraid 
of." 

"The sum of all is this: There is no evil in the world but 
what takes its rise from men themselves ; nor any devils, but so 
far as men extremely wicked and abandoned may deserve the 
name. And to uphold such evil beings is to engraft heathenism 

on Christianity ."f 

" To these conclusions of Synesius the whole company gave their 

* Satan, i.e. the enemy, the principle of hostility, the opposing persecuting power ; 
Christ, by the spirit of prophecy, foresaw that his gospel should make a rapid progress 
in the world, and triumph over all opposition. This interpretation seems better to suit 
the primary sense of the word and the connection in which it is introduced, than 
that of the venerable writer in the character of Synesius. See the Improved Version on 
Luke x. 17, 18. 

+ The venerable author in a note, highly gratifying, though too partial to the writer 
of this Memoir, has referred to a passage upon the subject of this conversation in his 
review of Mr. Wilberforce's Treatise. A more complete and accurate view of the sub- 
ject may be found in the Rev. John Simpson's Dissertations on the Language of Scrip- 
ture. The writer of this Memoir has also treated the subject much more at large in a 
series of Discourses delivered from the pulpit, which may perhaps at some future time 
be offered to the public. In the mean time, may he be permitted to express the high 
gratification he feels at the recollection that when his venerable friend, bending under 
the weight of years, was taking his final leave of the public, almost the last sentence 
that he penned should be a public testimony of affection and friendship to the writer of 
this Memoir, which that writer esteems as the highest honour and happiness of his 
life, and an ample compensation for all his exertions and sacrifices, whatever they 
may have been, in the cause of truth and undefined Christianity, even (as Dr. Priestley 
expresses it on another occasion) had they been ten times more and greater than they 
were. 



284 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



hearty concurrence; and after these friendly conferences, they 
returned to their respective homes and duties, more fully impressed 
with their obligation as Christians to study the word and works of 
God, to add practice to knowledge, and to communicate to others 
that light and truth which lead to eternal life.'* 

The " Conversations upon the Divine Government " are not, 
perhaps, equal, as a composition, to those upon Christian Idolatry, 
which were published ten years before. The speeches are rather 
too long and too formal ; and the sentiments of the speakers are 
not sufficiently contrasted to keep up the spirit of the dialogue. 
Also, the arguments and criticisms are such as will not in every 
case satisfy the critical reader. And the venerable writer has need- 
lessly encumbered his work, and in some degree weakened his 
argument, by assuming, and that in rather too lofty a tone, the credi- 
bility of the whole, or at least of too great a proportion, of what 
is commonly called the Mosaic history. But the work is curious 
and interesting, as containing the last thoughts of an eminently 
pious, benevolent, and inquisitive mind upon a variety of subjects 
of great practical importance. Much of the philosophical part of 
the work is admirable, and the arguments are irresistible. In 
his conclusions he sometimes falters by adopting popular rather 
than philosophical language. But in the grand conclusion of 
all, the assertion of the great and sublime doctrine of the ulti- 
mate unlimited virtue and happiness of all mankind as the 
glorious consummation of the divine government, and the illus- 
trious and magnificent display of infinite and impartial goodness 
overruling, absorbing, and extinguishing all* vice and misery in 
the creation, the venerable author is explicit and decided. The 
work exhibits a most interesting view of the aged patriarch's pious, 
candid, benevolent, and cheerful mind, of his humble and devo- 
tional spirit, and of the happy influence of that rare combination 
of the principles of a sublime philosophy with the doctrines of a 
pure and unsophisticated Christianity, which, when they become 
the ruling principles of conduct, elevate the human character to 
its highest dignity, and ensure the most substantial, exalted, and 
permanent felicity. Thus gently, thus usefully, did this eminent 



285 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



servant and minister of Christ pursue his way to that quiet abode 
which is the house appointed for all the living. 



CHAPTER XY. 

mr. lindsey suffers a paralytic seizure, but recovers, 
dr. Priestley's reflections upon the situation of his 
friend, and upon mr. lindsey* s last work. mr. lindsey 
interests himself in the appointment of the author 
to the chapel in essex street. encourages and assists 
the improv ed version. his gradual decline and death, 
conclusion of the work. 

Mr. Lindsey, after the resignation of his office in 1793, con- 
tinued for some years to enjoy an uncommon portion of health, 
vigour, and activity, and that uniform flow of cheerfulness which 
is the natural result of a good constitution, and the recollections 
of a well-spent life. His retrospects were most gratifying, his 
anticipations delightful, his principles most rational and consola- 
tory, his circumstances easy. He was happy in the affection and 
attention of the best of women, in the society of chosen and vir- 
tuous friends of principles and spirit similar to his own, in fre- 
quent correspondence with the man after his own heart, in an 
ardent but unostentatious piety and confidence in God, in unlimited 
resignation to the Divine w T ill, and in the growing success of the 
great cause which was nearest to his heart, the cause of Christian 
truth and Christian virtue, to the revival of which he could not 
but know that his own exertions and example had in a considerable 
degree contributed ; he possessed his faculties entire, bodily and 
mental, and seemed to be in a degree privileged with exemption 
from the infirmities of age. The first alarm was excited in the 



286 MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 

spring of 1801, when Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey were upon a visit for 
a few days at Reigate, the residence of their learned and estim- 
able friend, Francis Maseres, Esq., Cursitor Baron of the Exche- 
quer.* The weather being uncommonly warm for the season, Mr. 
Lindsey experienced a slight paraljtic affection on one side, which 
however disappeared in a few days. But in the latter end of 
December of the same year, he suffered a severe stroke, which at 
first excited the greatest apprehension. From this indeed he soon 
recovered surprisingly, so as to be able in the beginning of January 
following to finish his last interesting work, the Conversations 
upon the Divine Government. After this seizure he gradually 
declined in bodily strength and vigour, though he was generally 
free from pain, and his faculties for a considerable time were not 
sensibly impaired. 

The writer of this Memoir first 'announced the painfnl tidings 
to the venerable exile at Northumberland. Soon afterwards 
Mrs. Lindsey wrote, and at that time Mr. Lindsey was so far 
recovered as to be able to add a postscript. The feelings of Dr. 
Priestley's affectionate heart, upon the sad intelligence of his 
friend's illness, are expressed with so much simplicity, and in a 
strain of such exalted piety, founded upon such just and philo- 
sophic views of the Christian revelation, in the following letters, 
that they cannot fail to be exquisitely gratifying to the serious 
reader. 

(To Mrs. Lindsey.) 

" Northumberland, May 8, 1802. 

a Dear Madam, 

" I cannot express how much I was affected on reading your 
letter; though I was apprized of the situation of my best friend 

• To Mr. Baron Maseres, Mr. Lindsey acknowledges himself indebted for many 
favours for near thirty years, and describes his friend as " one whose liberal, benevolent, 
and generous labours are constantly exerted in various ways to benefit mankind, and 
promote the cause of true religion and virtue." And he adds that to this gentleman's 
"suggestions, jointly with those of John Lee, Esq., was owing the variation made in 
the last edition of the Reformed Liturgy in 1793, after the model of the excellent Dr. 
Samuel Clarke, by changing the threefold address retained in the liturgy to one solemn 
and appropriate one ; they justly observing, that a threefold address would keep up 
the old impression of a threefold nature in the Deity, so contrary to the Scriptures." 
Conversations on the Divine Government, p. 140, note. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LIXDSEY. 



287 



by the letters of Mr. B., so that I had no reason to expect any 
different account. But the few lines he added with his own 
hand quite overcame me; and if I read them, as I shall do, a 
hundred times, I shall have the same emotions. Such friendship 
as his and yours has been to me can never be exceeded on this 
side the grave: and, independent of the real emolument, has 
been a source of such satisfaction to me as I have not derived 
from any other quarter. And yet what I feel is not properly 
grief. For, considering how near we both must be to the close of 
life, in which we could not promise ourselves much more enjoy- 
ment, or be of much more use, what remains cannot, according to 
the common course of nature, be of much value, and therefore the 
privation of it is no great loss. And considering how soon we 
may expect, and I hope without much presumption, to meet again 
in more favourable circumstances, the causes of joy may almost 
be allowed to balance those of grief. The loss to you will be 
much greater than to any other person, as that of such a constant 
companion and Christian friend necessarily must be. How few 
couples are there so suited to one another in dispositions and 
views, and those of the best and noblest kind, as you are ! I 
have never known the like. You have therefore every reason to 
expect a renewal of your union, though in some other way, 
hereafter. 

" If you saw me now, you would not flatter me with the pro- 
spect of long surviving my excellent friend. Judging from my 
illnesses last year, and my present feelings, I am far from expect- 
ing it myself. And indeed, as it will be the will of God, whatever 
the event be, and therefore no doubt for the best, I cannot say 
that I greatly wish it. My labours, of whatever kind and what- 
ever be their value, are nearly over; and I have now hardly any 
wish but to see the printing of my Church History and Notes on 
the Scriptures. 

" I beg, dear Madam, you would not fail to continue the cor- 
respondence of your excellent husband, and write as you say 
upon all sorts of subjects. Whatever interests you will interest 



288 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



me, and I hope Mr. Lindsey, whenever he is able, will add his 
signature. 

" Yours and Mr. Lindsey' s most affectionately, 

" J. P." 

(Rev. T. Lindsey.) 

" Northumberland, June 26, 1802. 

" Dear Friend, 

" Whether it be you or Mrs. Lindsey that is my correspondent, 
I consider it as the same thing. You are alike my friends, and 
my best friends; and whoever survives, this correspondence will 
not, I hope, cease, while it is possible to continue it, on this side 
the grave. This great change to which we are making near ap- 
proaches, I regard, I hope I may say, with more curiosity than 
anxiety. It is the wise order of Providence that death should 
intervene between the two different modes of existence, and 
what engages my thoughts is the change itself, more than the 
mere manner of making it. I look at your portrait, and that of 
Dr. Price and Mr. Lee, which are always before me, and think of 
my deceased friends whose portraits I have not, with peculiar 
satisfaction, under the idea that I shall at no great distance of 
time see them again, and I hope with pleasure. But how we 
shall meet again, and how we shall be employed, we have 
little or no ground even for conjecture. It should satisfy us, 
however, that we shall be at the disposal, and under the govern- 
ment, of the same wise and good Being who has superintended 
us here, and who knows what place and employment will best suit 
all of us. The more I think of the wonderful system of which 
we are a part, the less I think of any difficulties about the reality 
or the circumstances of a future state. The resurrection is really 
nothing compared to the wonders of every day in the regular 
course of nature : and the only reason why we do not wonder is, 
because the appearances are common. Whether it be because 
I converse less with men in this remote situation, I contemplate 
the scenes of nature, as the production of its great Author, more, 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



289 



and with more satisfaction, than I ever did before ; and the new 
discoveries that are now making in every branch of science, interest 
me more than ever in this connection. I see before us a boundless 
field of the noblest investigation, and all we yet know appears to 
me as nothing, compared to what we are wholly ignorant of, and 
do not as yet perceive any means of access to it. I now take 
great pleasure in my garden, and plants as well as other objects 
engage more of my attention than they ever did before : and I 
see those things in a more pleasing light than ever. I wish I 
knew a little more of botany, but old as I am I learn something- 
new continually. I admire Dr. Darwin's Phytologia, and am 
reading it a second time. But this work, which I believe con- 
tains all that we yet know of this part of nature, shows me how 
little that all is. Before he died, I am informed he was about to 
publish another work, in which he maintained the doctrine of 
equivocal generation; and of all absurdities this appears to me to 
be the greatest, if by it they mean to exclude intelligence from 
the system of nature. And I cannot see any other reason why 
unbelievers in revelation should lean, as many now do, to that 
doctrine. Their faith has certainly less evidence than ours. 

" 1 have written a dedication of the second part of my History to 
Mr. Jefferson, and have sent him a copy of it for his approbation. 
The preface is the longest I ever wrote; but I hope you will not 
dislike it. It consists chiefly of reflections on the middle and dark 
ages. As soon as a copy can be made up, one shall be sent to you. 
Iu the Monthly Magazine I see an account of your late publica- 
tion. How I long to see it ! and surely it might have been here 
as soon as that magazine. 

" I have not heard from Mr. Johnson for near two years. My 
time is short and uncertain, and consequently my wants, though 
not many, are urgent. 

" Yours and Mrs. Lindsey's most affectionately, 

" J. P. 

H I have just received yours of March 23. I need not say how 
happy it makes me." 

u 



290 MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 

Dr. Priestley's next letter is an answer to this of Mr. Lindsey's ; 
the insertion of it will need no apology; the sentiments contained 
in it must be acceptable to every friend of the Christian religion who 
has a head to think, or a heart to feel. 

" Northumberland, July 3, 1802. 

" Dear Friend, 

u How rejoiced I was to receive your letter written wholly with 
your own hand y after your late alarming attack ! I now hope I 
shall have more of them ; and nothing on this side the grave 
gives me more satisfaction. And yet, considering how soon we 
may hope to meet again, the separation by death should not give 
us much concern. While we live we ought to value life and friend- 
ship, especially Christian friendship, as the balm of it. But we 
have a better life in prospect, and therefore should not regret the 
parting with the worse, provided we have enjoyed it properly, and 
improved it so as to have ensured the better. Absolute confidence 
does not become any man, conscious, as we all must be, of many 
imperfections, of omissions, if not of commissions. But surely, a 
general sincere endeavour to do what we apprehend to be our duty, 
will authorize so much hope as will be the reasonable foundation of 
joy, with respect to a future state, without being chargeable with 
arrogance or presumption. 

" You could not have made choice of a more pleasing or interest- 
ing subject than that of the w r ork which you have happily com- 
pleted, and which, as I believe it is in Philadelphia, I expect very 
soon to receive. It occupies my own thoughts, I may say almost 
constantly, and is the greatest source of satisfaction that in my 
present situation, and under my late trials, I enjoy. Indeed the 
reflection that we are under the government of the wisest and best 
of Beings, and that nothing can befall us without his permission, 
is sufficient to balance the very idea of evil* and make us regard 
everything as a good, for which we ought to be thankful. At the 
moment, none who have the hearts and feelings of men but must 
grieve for many things that he sees and feels. But Christian prin- 
ciples soon bring relief, and are capable of converting all sorrow into 
joy. But this will be in proportion to the strength of our faith, 



RE YE RE XD THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



291 



in consequence of the exercise of it ; when, according to Hartley, 
speculatiYe faith is converted into practical. 

"We have printed one volume of the History, and, as I told 
you, I have dedicated it to Mr Jefferson, I enclose his letter on 
receiving a manuscript copy of it. I have since altered it, I hope, 
to his mind, and shall very soon send it, together with the volume. 
I do not mean to dispose of any of the copies till all the three 
volumes be completed, which, if I do not take a journey in October, 
will be done about Christmas. I now hope you will see this work, 
and even the Notes on the Scriptures, which I hope you will like 
still better. As T wish you particularly to see the Preface and 
Dedication, I shall send a copy by the next post. The latter 
will not please you, as not calculated for England. But I have 
done with that country, and am indifferent to what my enemies 
may think of me. I shall always appear, as I am, a sincere friend 
to the country, and shall not with intention say anything offensive 
of its constitution, or the administration of it. I rejoice that its 
situation is much better than I feared such a war would leave it. 
" Yours and Mrs. Lindsey's most affectionately, 

"J. Priestley." 

How great must be the excellence of those principles which, in 
circumstances that to a common mind would be most depressing, 
could produce this habitual consolation, peace and hope, and could 
convert evil itself into good, and sorrow into joy ! How infinitely 
superior to that sad and cheerless scepticism which can meet the 
troubles of life, the evils of oppression and persecution, and the 
separation or death of friends, with nothing better than a stern and 
stoical apathy, and is destitute of every pleasing and consolatory 
hope of a life to come ! It was a just observation of Lord 
Rochester, that if Christianity be a delusion, it is a pleasing delusion. 
And strictly true is the remark of Dr. Price, that the worst which 
can happen to the Christian is the best which can be expected by 
the unbeliever. On the other hand, how much more dignified that 
equal tenor of mind, that tranquil and sublime satisfaction, which 
is the result of enlarged and comprehensive views, and of a sober 

u 2 



292 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



and rational faith, than those ecstatic raptures of which some make 
their boast, which result from a fancied arbitrary election of them- 
selves to happiness, and the unintelligible imputation of another's 
righteousness as a substitute for their own, while millions are left 
to perish, and even doomed to eternal torments, for the sin of a 
remote ancestor ! One marks the fond credulity of a child ; the 
other, the cultivated intellect of the man. How much to be desired, 
how pleasing to look forward to, that new and happy era which 
the word of prophecy authorizes us to anticipate, when all those 
puerile conceits, those anti- Christian doctrines, which are the crude 
offspring of ages of ignorance and superstition, which obscure and 
disgrace the fair form of true religion, shall be dispelled as mists 
before the rising sun, and genuine, uncorrupted Christianity, with 
its beautiful and animating ray, shall enlighten every understand- 
ing, and enliven every heart ! 

Mr. Jefferson's answer to Dr. Priestley's letter, enclosing a copy 
of it for the President's perusal, previous to its publication, is given 
in the notes as an interesting document, highly creditable to the 
character of that eminent person.* The original letter, with Mr. 
Jefferson's signature, is in the author's possession. 

{To the Rev. Dr. Priestley.) 
" Dear Sir, " Washington, June 19, 1802. 

" Your favour of the 12th has been duly received, and with that pleasure which the 
approbation of the good and the wise must ever give. The sentiments it expresses are 
far beyond my merits or pretensions. They are precious testimonies to me, however, 
that my sincere desire to do what is right and just is received with candour. That it 
should be handed to the world under the authority of your name is securing its credit 
with posterity. 

" In the great work which has been effected in America, no individual has a right to 
take a great share to himself. Our people, in a body, are wise, because they are under 
the unrestrained and unperverted operation of their own understandings. Those whom 
they have assigned to the direction of their affairs have stood with a pretty even front. 
If any one of them was withdrawn, many others, entirely equal, have been ready to fill 
his place with as good abilities. A nation composed of such materials, and free in all 
its members from distressing wants, furnishes hopeful implements for the interesting 
experiment of self-government, and we feel that we are acting under obligations not con- 
fined to the limits of our own society. It is impossible not to be sensible that we are 
acting for all mankind : that circumstances, denied to others but indulged to us, have 
imposed on us the duty of proving what is the degree of freedom and self-government 
in which a society may venture to leave its individual members. 

ie One passage in the paper you enclosed me must be corrected ; it is the following : £ And 
all say that it was yourself more than any other individual that planned and established 
the Constitution.' I was in Europe when the Constitution was planned and established, 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



293 



In the letter enclosing this from Mr. Jefferson, dated August 
28, 1802, and addressed to Mr. Lindsey, Dr. Priestley tells his 
friend that he had just been very happy by the receipt of a letter 
from him, dated May 5, and expresses his great satisfaction at 
hearing of a scheme which had been formed and adopted for de- 
fraying the expense of printing his two great works. In noticing 
Mr. Jefferson's letter, he adds, ffc Such things as these give us a 
better idea of a man's principles and character than more public 
documents. I shall not be able to visit him as he wishes. Indeed 
the state of my health is such as warns me that I have no time to 
lose ; and I am desirous of doing all I can in what remains of life. 
If well spent, longer or shorter makes no difference; but mine 
has been a long life, though not so long as yours, Whenever 
we die, we shall start together at the same time hereafter. May 
it be in the same place, and our happy connection be resumed I" 

In the next letter, dated September 25, after expressing his 
anxiety to hear about his friend's state of health, Dr. Priestley 
adds, " It would be extreme folly for either of us to flatter our- 

and never saw-it till after it was established. On receiving it, I wrote strongly to Mr. 
Madison, urging the want of provision for the freedom of religion, freedom of the press, 
trial by jury, habeas corpus, the substitution of militia for a standing army, and an 
express reservation to the States of all the rights not specifically granted to the Union. 
He accordingly moved, in the first session of Congress, for these amendments, which 
were agreed to and ratified by the States as they now stand. This is all the hand I 
had in what related to the Constitution. Our predecessors made it doubtful how far 
even these were of any value. For the very law which endangered your personal safety, 
the Alien Act, as well as that which restrained the freedom of the press, were gross 
violations of them. However, it is still certain, that though written Constitutions may 
be violated in moments of passion or delusion, yet they furnish a text to which those 
who are watchful may again rally, and recall the people. They fix too for the people 
principles for their practical creed. 

" We shall all absent ourselves from this place during the sickly season, say, from the 
22nd of July to the last of September. Should your curiosity lead yon hither either 
before or after that interval, I shall be very happy to receive you, and shall claim you as 
my guest. I wish the advantages of a mild over a winter climate had been tried for you, 
before you were located where you are. I have ever considered this as a public as well as 
personal misfortune. The choice you made of our country as your asylum, was honour- 
able to it ; and I lament that, for the sake of your happiness and health, its most benign 
climates were not selected. Certainly it is a truth that climate is one of the sources of 
the greatest sensual enjoyment. I received in due time the letter referred to in your last 
with the pamphlet it enclosed, which I read with the pleasure I do everything from you. 
Accept assurances of my highest veneration and respect. 

" Thos. Jefferson/* 



294 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



selves with the prospect of many years to come; nor at our 
time of life is it in general desirable. Before this time, the busi- 
ness of life, whatever it has been, must be over, and nothing 
can remain but retrospect ; and with respect to neither of us, I 
trust, is this very painful ; though no man ever lived who might 
not have done more good in the world (and for that end we came 
into it) than he actually did. Of late, but not more than a fort- 
night, I have had a better prospect of health than I have had for a 
considerable time, having no ague or indisposition of any kind, 
and 1 feel nothing of the languor which I did for some time past, 
but as much ardour in my pursuits as I generally have had, 
though I find I am not capable of doing as much. I now hope, 
that with care, I may see through the printing of both my works, 
and I have hardly a wish to live longer, especially as I shall 
hardly be capable of undertaking anything more of much impor- 
tance." 

I shall insert the next letter almost entire; not only because 
it contains Dr. Priestley's opinion of Mr. Lindsey's last work, 
and expresses many fine sentiments concerning the wisdom and 
goodness of the divine government, but because of the strong 
testimony which, after a friendship of thirty years, the venerable 
writer bears to the excellence of Mrs. Lindsey's character, and 
her vigorous and successful exertions in doing good^ which can 
hardly be conceived by those who only saw that extraordinary 
woman in the last year or two of her active and useful life, when 
her health and faculties were in a rapid decline. The letter is 
dated October 16, 1802, and is addressed to Mrs. Lindsey: 

"Dear Madam,— What do I not owe to you and Mr. Lindsey, 
and at present more particularly to yourself? If I have been of any 
use in the world since my acquaintance with you, one half of it 
at least must be placed to your account. I have, I hope, endea- 
voured to improve my opportunities and means, but these have 
been in a great measure furnished by you. Without your active 
assistance 1 find that the works which I have now in hand would 
hardly have been printed in my lifetime, unless I should live 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



295 



longer than I have any reason to expect.* Dr. Doddridge used 
to say, he was confident there would be more women in heaven 
than men ; and certainly you excel in the milder, and, what are 
more peculiarly called, the Christian virtues of patience, meekness, 
sympathy, and kindness ; and- 1 think that the history of persecu- 
tions proves you have your full share of the more heroic virtues, 

* Dr. Priestley here alludes to the exertions which were made by his friends in 
England to raise a sum of money to defray the expense of printing his two great 
works. The writer of this Memoir learning, from his own and Mr. Lindsey's corre- 
spondence with Dr. Priestley, the difficulties which had occurred upon this subject, and 
apprehensive lest, after all, the Christian world might be deprived of the benefit of his 
most valuable labours for want of a sufficient fund to enable him to publish the work, 
it occurred to him that if a hundred persons could be found to subscribe five pounds 
each for a copy of the whole of both the works, and to pay their subscrrptions in ad- 
vance, every difficulty would be surmounted. No sooner was the proposal made than it 
was adopted with great ardour and zeal by Dr. Priestley's numerous friends, and the 
friends of freedom of inquiry in general ; so that the sum wanted was very soon far 
exceeded, and the venerable exile's mind was made perfectly easy. Mrs. Lindsey 
exerted her usual energies in the cause, and his friends at Birmingham and Hackney 
were not deficient ; and among these no one was more indefatigable or successful than 
Benjamin Travers, Esq., then resident at Clapton. The list of subscribers was nume- 
rous and respectable. The Duke of Grafton, with his accustomed liberality, subscribed 
fifty pounds, and his noble friend Lord Clarendon twenty, Mr. Lindsey twenty, and 
Robert Slaney, Esq., of Tong Lodge, the generous friend of all that is liberal and good, 
thirty guineas, with a promise of more if more should be wanted. And now that he is 
at rest beyond the reach of envy and of calumny, from which neither exalted station 
nor exalted merit could have protected h ; m here, it may be permitted to mention, that 
by far the most liberal subscriber to this object was the late Right Reverend Dr. John 
Law, Bishop of Elphin, one of the numerous able and prosperous family of the late 
learned aud liberal prelate of Carlisle, and brother to the late Lord Chief Justice of 
England, and to the Bishop of Chester. An extract from the Bishop of Elphin s 
interesting letter shall close this note. It is addressed to Mr. Lindsey, who had sent 
him a copy of his last publication, dated Elphin, October 7, 1802. 

"My dear Sir, — Want of health, and indisposition, have prevented me from thanking 
you for your letter and obliging present sooner. I have read your valuable work with 
as much attention as pains in the head and stomach, arising from a flying gout, would 
let me ; and think it is calculated to do a great deal of good. 

"Enclosed is a draft for one hundred pounds, which you will apply in aid of Dr. 
Priestley's publication, in any way he chooses ; but my name must on no account be 
mentioned to him, or any one else, as it would involve me with some acquaintance here, 
and do me more mischief than you can imagine, and w r hich I am sure you would not 
wish. Our religion hereabouts is evidenced chiefly in hating and abusing those that 
differ from us ; and excepting this zeal, we scarce show in other things that we have any. 
You will be surprised at it, but neither Popery nor Methodism are losing any ground. 

"Reprint my father's Life of Christ whenever you please, and believe me to be, with 
the sincerest esteem, 

" Your very r aithful and obedient servant, 

'• J. Elphin." 

Mr. Lindsey availed himself of the Bishop's permission to reprint the Life of Christ, 
and this small but valuable tract is now upon the catalogue of books circulated by the 
Unitarian Society. 



,296 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



and have shown as much true courage as men. When I reflect, 
as I often do, on the character of my good aunt, that of Mrs. 
Rayner, and to those let me add yours, I do not think that I can 
find many of my acquaintances to compare with them among 
men; and yet I have known many of great excellence. Of 
these, the foremost in my list are Dr. Price, Mr. Tayleur of 
Shrewsbury, and Mr. Lindsey. Those in a lower class, however, 
are numerous ; and I doubt not but that hereafter we shall find 
there has always been more virtue than vice in the world, and that 
the vice has had its use in producing virtue. The more I contem- 
plate the great system, the more satisfaction I find in it; and the 
structure being so perfect, there cannot be a doubt but that the 
end and use of it in promoting happiness will correspond to it. 
These views, as I take more pleasure than ever in Natural History, 
contribute much to brighten the evening of my days. But my 
great resource is the Scriptures, which I have not of a long time 
passed a single day without reading a portion of, and I am more 
interested in it continually. I seem now to see it with other eyes, 
and all other reading is comparatively insipid. 

" But I shall tire you with my moralizing. You are very kind 
to interest yourself about my health. On this day se'nnight I 
wrote to Dr. Disney, and told him I was much recruited. But 
this week I have relapsed again, but without fever. The least 
thing disorders my power of digestion : and when I have any- 
thing amiss there, it is a long time before I get right again. At 
present, a long continued indigestion seems to have affected the 
liver. I feel in several respects as I did when I was subject to 
the gall-stones ; and being further advanced in life, I am less able 
to struggle with disease of any kind. My flesh and muscular 
strength are greatly impaired. I hope, however, that with care 
I may live to print the two works, and then my mind will be 
entirely at ease. Whatever may be thought of them, I have 
spared no pains to make them as perfect as I could, and both the 
works are of a kind that I am sure are much wanted. 

" I find by Mr. Lindsey that my tract on Baptism has arrived : 
and his two words of approbation are a sufficient reward for my 



REVEREND THEOPHTLUS LINDSEY. 



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labour. I hope he will live to see what I am now printing, as the 
History will probably be printed before the winter be out, and 
another year will be sufficient for the Notes on the Scriptures. 
I no more expect fame than I do profit from either of these works, 
but neither of them is any object with me at present. I have had 
enough of every thing that this world can give me, and consider 
my lot as having been a singularly happy one. But I flatter 
myself that my writings, which are overlooked at present, will be 
found useful some time hence. 

" Mr. Lindsey's last work I read with peculiar satisfaction ; it 
is excellently adapted to gain its object, and discovers a happy and 
most desirable state of mind with which to take leave of the 
world : praising the great and benevolent Author of it, and 
looking forward to the same excellent disposition of things here- 
after. 

te Give my best respects to the ladies at Morden. I shall never 
forget their excellent characters, or their kindness to myself. 
Remember me also to Dr. Blackburne.* I often wish I was 
under his care. 

" Yours and Mr. Lindsey's most affectionately, 

" J. Priestley/' 

Many letters of thanks and testimonies of approbation were 
sent to Mr. Lindsey upon the publication of his last excellent 
work : of these I shall take the liberty of inserting an extract from 
one by the Rev. Christopher Wyvill, of Burton Hall, near Bedale, 
in Yorkshire, a name that will be ever dear to the friends of civil 
and religious liberty, the celebrated Chairman of the Yorkshire 
Association for the Reform of the Commons House of Parliament, 
and who is terminating his long career of patriotic exertion by a 
series of vigorous and benevolent efforts in the cause of universal 
religious liberty, to which few would be equal even in the meridian 
of life. Nor is it to be despaired of, considering the changes 
which have lately taken place in the political world, that the 

* An eminent physician in London ; the Archdeacon's youngest son, and half- 
brother to Mrs. Lindsey, now resident near Wells, in Somersetshire. 



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veteran champion of the rights of conscience may live to see the 
complete success of his generous exertions, at a time when success 
was the least expected. In a letter dated from Burton Hall, 
March 31, 1802, he thus addresses his aged friend, whose views 
and principles upon almost every subject were congenial with 
his own : 

" My dear Sir, — Last night I finished the perusal of your 
Conversations on the Divine Benevolence, and other subjects 
connected with it, and I hasten to return you my cordial thanks 
for the pleasure and benefit I have derived from it. I think your 
last work, if it is to be your last work, closes your labours with 
great honour to yourself and utility to the world, by presenting 
such an amiable picture of religion, as must, one would hope, win 
the affections of many who are at present disinclined. I saw 
nothing in which I could not agree with you ; as I have long been 
accustomed, like yourself, to consider the goodness of God as the 
true foundation of religion. It is the principle of St. John ; for 
God, he says, is love. It is the principle of our Lord ; for God so 
loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoso- 
ever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. 
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, 
but that the world through him might be saved. That is the 
gracious design of Providence we see : and what Providence 
designs, as you justly argue in your book, must come to pass. On 
this principle, therefore, of Divine love, I have raised a structure 
nearly similar to that which you have built upon the same ground. 
I have found it the consolation of my mind, and it will be still 
more so from having read what you have so well drawn together 
to illustrate that great truth. I will only add, that the temper 
of your mind in the whole course of your composition well accords 
with the amiable principle you are recommending." 

In the beginning of the year 1804, Mr. Lindsey lost his 
admired and beloved friend and correspondent Dr. Priestley; an 
event which he felt as deeply as any calamity which could have 
happened to him in his declining state of health and vigour, but 
the tidings of which he bore, as has been already observed, with 



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the Christian fortitude and resignation of one who was hastening 
apace to the same quiet and undisturbed abode, and who hoped 
for a speedy and happy re-union in a better state, and in more 
auspicious circumstances. 

Two events occurred after the decease of Dr. Priestley, which, 
from the light in which they were viewed by the venerable 
patriarch, contributed greatly to cheer and enliven his closing day. 

The first was the very lively interest which he took in the 
appointment of the writer of this Memoir to be the officiating 
minister at the chapel in Essex Street, in succession to Dr. Disney, 
whose infirm state of health obliged him to resign his charge in 
the spring of 1805. This event, the idea of which first occurred 
to Mr. Lindsey, and to the accomplishment of which both he and 
Mrs. Lindsey contributed their utmost and united efforts, seemed 
for a time at least to infuse fresh vigour into his debilitated frame ; 
and upon this occasion he resumed his seat in the chapel, from 
which he had for some time withdrawn on account of his declining 
health. This attendance upon public worship Mr. Lindsey con- 
tinued with exemplary regularity for upwards of two years and a 
half: he often expressed himself as particularly gratified with the at- 
tendance of the young persons upon those Lectures on the Evidences 
and Doctrines of Revealed Religion, which were introduced by the 
preacher after the morning service ; and he augured the best con- 
sequences to the interests of truth and goodness from that spirit 
of inquiry which discovered itself in the rising generation. May 
those favourable prognostications be happily verified in the event ! 
After the first Sunday in November, 1807, Mr. Lindsey' s feeble 
state of health and his growing infirmities compelled him finally, 
but reluctantly, to withdraw from the chapel worship. 

The other event alluded to was the publication of the Improved 
Version of the New Testament by the Unitarian Society, of 
which it will be proper to give a brief account. 

In the spring of the year 1789, Dr. Priestley, whose active and 
benevolent mind was always engaged in some scheme for the 
instruction and improvement of mankind, formed a project, which 
he communicated to Mr. Lindsey, for a continually improving 



300 



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translation of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. 
This plan was matured at the annual interview which he had with 
his friend in the month of April ; and it was determined immedi- 
ately to engage a competent number of coadjutors, and to complete 
the work within the year. The general idea was, that the whole 
Scripture should be distributed among a certain number of trans- 
lators ; that the translators should adhere to certain rules which 
were laid down for the purpose ; the principal of which was, not 
to deviate from the public version without an evident necessity : 
and superintendents were appointed to revise and correct the 
translation previously to its being sent to the press.* Dr. 

* The following is the plan, accompanied with the rules of translating, which was 
printed, and circulated among those whose assistance was solicited, or to whom it was 
thought expedient to communicate the design 

A Plan to procure a continually improving Translation of the Scriptures. 

I. Let three persons, of similar principles and views, procure the assistance v of a 
number of their learned friends, and let each of them undertake the translation of a 
portion of the whole Bible, engaging to produce it in the space of a year. 

II. Let each of the translations be carefully perused by some other person than the 
translator himself ; and especially let each of the three principals peruse the whole, 
and communicate their remarks to the translators. 

III. Let the three principals have the power of making what alterations they 
please ; but if the proper translator prefer his own version, let the three principals, 
when they print the work, insert his version in the notes or margin, distinguished by 
his signature. 

IV. If any one of the three differ in opinion from the other two, let his version be 
also annexed with his signature. 

V. Let the whole be printed in one volume without any notes, except as few as 
possible relating to the version, or the phraseology. 

VI. Let the translators, and especially the three principals, give constant attention 
to all other new translations of the Scriptures, and all other sources of information, 
that they may avail themselves of them in all subsequent editions, so that this version 
may always be in a state of improvement. 

VII. Let the three principals agree upon certain rules of translating, to be observed 
by all the rest. 

VIII. On the death of any of the three principals, let the survivors make choice of 
another to supply his place. 

IX. Let all the profits of the publication be disposed of by the three principals to 
some public institution in England, or any other part of the world, or in any other 
manner that they shall think most subservient to the causes of truth. 



RULES OF TRANSLATING. 

I. Let the translators insert in the text whatever they think it was most probable 
that the authors really wrote, if it has the authority of any ancient version or MS. ; 
but if it differ from the present Hebrew or Greek copies, let the version of the present 
copies be inserted in the margin. 

II. If the translators give the preference to any emendation of the text not autho- 



REVEREND THEOPHILTJS LIXDSEY. 



301 



Priestley undertook to translate the Hagiographa, and engaged 
the writer of this Memoir to assist him in the book of Job. Mr. 
Frend, whose abilities and learning are well known, and who had 
lately seceded from the Established Church, and resigned all his 
well-founded hopes of preferment in it for the sake of truth and 
a good conscience, undertook to translate the Pentateuch, or the 
historical books. Mr. Dodson was applied to for translating the 
prophetical writings ; but that gentleman not having leisure 
sufficient, Dr. Priestley undertook the whole. Mr. Garner, a 
learned, liberal, and respectable clergyman at Bury St. Edmund's, 
in Suffolk, engaged for, and executed, the translation of the whole 
New Testament. Mr. Lindsey and Mr. Dodson were to revise 
the work. The task, however, was found to be too great even for 
Dr. Priestley's energies to accomplish within the year; and it 
having been postponed till the summer of 1791, the riots of 
Birmingham unfortunately intervened, and the ruffians who broke 
into Dr. Priestley's house, among other valuable papers, demo- 
lished his translation of the New Testament, and in their demoniac 
fury they left not a wreck behind.* 

This disastrous event put an entire termination to the promising 

rized by any MS. or ancient version, let such, conjectural emendation be inserted in the 
margin only. 

III. Let the additions in the Samaritan copy of the Pentateuch be inserted in the 
text, but distinguished from the rest. 

IV. Let not the present English version be changed, except for the sake of some 
improvement. 

V. In the Old Testament, let the word Jehovah be rendered by Jehovah, and also 
the word Kvpto; in the Xew, in passages in which there is an allusion to the Old, or 
where it may be proper to distinguish God from Christ. 

VI. Let the present division of chapters be adhered to with as little variation as 
possible, and the whole be divided into paragraphs, not exceeding about twenty of the 
present verses; but let all the present divisions of chapters and verses be noted in the 
margin. 

VII. To each chapter let there be prefixed a summary of the contents, as in the 
common version. 

* For a complete account of the irreparable loss which the theological, the philoso- 
phical, and the learned world sustained from this unparalleled outrage, see Dr. 
Priestley's Appeal to the Public on the Riots in Birmingham, p. 36. Of these losses, 
if the writer ot this Memoir may presume to judge, the greatest and the most irrepara- 
ble is a manuscript volume containing Illustrations of Hartley's Doctrine of the Asso- 
ciation of Ideas, and further Observations on the Human Mind. Xo one ever under- 
stood Dr. Hartley's theory better than Dr. Priestley, and no writer ever exceeded 
him in simplicity and clearness of exposition, or in appositeness of illustration. 



302 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



project of a new and continually improving translation. But the 
design was never lost sight of for a moment; and when the 
Unitarian Society was instituted in 1791, and especially after the 
destruction of Dr. Priestley's manuscripts, the translation of the 
Scriptures, and particularly of the New Testament, was a main 
object of their attention. 

With this view, application was first made by a deputation from 
the Society, consisting of Mr. Lindsey, Mr. Dodson, and the 
writer of this Memoir, to the late celebrated and learned Gilbert 
Wakefield for leave to introduce his valuable translation into the 
Society's catalogue; to which request Mr. Wakefield not only 
gave his cordial consent, but promised to revise his translation 
with the utmost care, and to render it as perfect as he was able 
for the Society's use. In this generous purpose he was defeated 
by the contract which he had made with his bookseller, who had 
not then disposed of all the copies of the second edition. After- 
wards, the Unitarian Society in the West of England formed a 
project for a new translation of the New Testament, which was 
soon abandoned in consequence of the sudden and unexpected 
decease of the Reverend Timothy Kenrick, who took the lead in 
that and every other scheme for promoting learning, truth, and 
genuine Christianity in principle and practice in that district of 
the united kingdom. 

Here the matter rested till the General Meeting of the London 
Unitarian Society in April, 1806, when it was unanimously re- 
solved, that this important undertaking should be no longer 
deferred; and a committee, consisting of all the ministers who 
were members of the Society, and of a certain proportion of lay 
gentlemen, was nominated to carry the resolution into effect. It 
was also unanimously agreed, that instead of a translation en- 
tirely new, some respectable version already in existence should be 
adopted as the basis of the new publication, into which might be 
inserted the alterations which were judged necessary. The prin- 
cipal reasons for this decision were, that a new translation would 
require a considerable length of time ; that few persons had 
leisure sufficient for the purpose, or were willing to incur the 



REVEREND 



THEOPHTLU S 



LIXDSEY. 



303 



responsibility ; and that such a version, however impartially con- 
ducted^ would be exposed to the vulgar cavil of an intentional 
warping of the Scripture to support an unscriptural hypothesis. 

As Mr. Wakefield's Version could not be obtained, Archbishop 
Newcomers Translation was selected, with the full consent of the 
late Mr. Johnson, to whom it was understood that the copy- 
right belonged. And the reasons for selecting this Version were, 
that, though not faultless, it was in the main excellent; that the 
style in general was simple and unaffected; that the translation 
was fair and impartial ; that it rectified many errors in the public 
Version ; but chiefly, because the learned prelate had, in his 
translation, followed the corrected text of Griesbach. And 
though it was taken from Griesbach 5 s first edition, the variations 
in the second, though numerous, are in general very incon- 
siderable; that learned and laborious critic having himself 
remarked, that his later inquiries had in general served only to 
confirm the critical principles and to justify the variations which 
he had introduced into the first edition. Another inducement for 
adopting the Primate's Version was, that it was out of print, 
without the least probability of its ever being printed again.* In 
order to preserve the uniformity of style, it was resolved that no 
alterations should be made in the Primate's language but those 
which were judged to be absolutely necessary. And, to preclude 
every possibility of misleading the reader, wherever it was thought 
proper to give a different translation of any passage, or to deviate 
even in a single expression from the Primate's text, his own 
words, with the initials of his name, were required to be set down 
at the foot of the page. So that the editors of the Improved 
Version, far from desiring to cast a slur upon the Primate's 
orthodoxy, or to avail themselves improperly and dishonourably of 

* It is very well known that the Translation was printed while the Primate was 
living, but that it was withheld from the public at the request, and by the influence, 
of some in high station, who thought it not expedient for an Archbishop to let the 
public into the secret, that the common Version is capable of improvement, and that the 
received text, formed by the meritorious but not infallible labours of Erasmus, Stephens, 
Beza, and Elzevir, is not inspired. Unfortunately, the impression of the Primate's 
Works was much damaged in crossing the water, in consequence of being carelessly 
packed. So that the copies which were left for sale were comparatively very few. 



304 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



his truly respectable name, to give currency to opinions contrary 
to his avowed sentiments, really considered themselves as entitled 
to thanks for having rescued a meritorious work from oblivion, 
and having given a wider extent to its circulation ; and they con- 
scientiously believed that the pious and venerable prelate himself, 
had he been living, would not have condemned the liberty which 
they have taken with it.* 

* The only person, excepting the possessor of the copyright, who had a right to be 
offended at the liberty taken by the editors in adopting the Primate's Version as the 
basis of their own, was Dr. Stock, the late venerable Bishop of Killala, and afterwards 
of Waterford, who published an interesting account of the invasion of Ireland by the 
French, who seized the Episcopal palace at Killala, and made it their head-quarters, 
detaining the Bishop and his family prisoners. This worthy and learned prelate also 
distinguished himself by his new Version of the books of Job and Isaiah ; and being 
a near relative by affinity of the venerable Primate, he may be regarded as the proper 
guardian of his reputation. From this learned and respectable prelate the author of 
this Memoir received the following mild and polite expostulation, very different from 
the gross language in which the Improved Version is commonly attacked : — 

" Reverend Sir, "Bath, Aug. 7, 1809. 

" I shall with pleasure avail myself, when occasion offers, of your kind invitation to 
call on you at Hackney. I may then, perhaps, be allowed to expostulate with you, 
not on the religious opinions you maintain, for these I leave to every man's own con- 
science, but on the covert, I had almost said the unfair, manner in which your Society 
have endeavoured, by the means of the New Translation, to instil those opinions into 
the minds of the common people. Two things I mainly object to you ; the name your 
Society has assumed, which is calculated to deceive by its resemblance in sound to that 
of another and more ancient Society in London, whose labours have been confined to 
the spreading of gospel truths without any mixture of opinions disputed among 
Christians. And, secondly, your adopting through the greater part of your work the 
Version of Archbishop Newcome, while, by alterations of your own, and by your com- 
ments, you endeavour to lead the reader into opinions which that respected Father of 
our Church entertained no more than I do. It is true you have sought to obviate this 
charge, by marking in your notes the difference between your interpretation and our 
Primate's ; but common readers will not be ready to advert to such distinctions; neither 
can the friends to Primate Newcome's reputation be pleased to see his name coupled, as 
it was sometimes most untruty in his lifetime, with those of the Unitarians and 
Socinians. I have the honour to be, with respect, Reverend Sir, your most obedient 
humble servant. 

# "Joseph Killala." 

The author of this Memoir wrote an answer to the venerable and liberal prelate, 
which, he trusts, satisfied his Lordship that the editors, even if they erred in their judg- 
ment, intended nothing disingenuous or unfair. He hoped to have had an opportunity 
by personal intercourse to have effaced every remaining unfavourable impression. But 
his Lordship's infirm health, and his professional avocations, did not admit of his return 
to the metropolis. 

The reader will judge how far the Bartlett's Buildings Society, who do not venture to 
circulate the Bible itself but in connection with the Common Prayer Book, are entitled 
to the worthy prelate's encomium, of " confining themselves to spreading gospel truths 
without any mixture of disputed opinions." And as to the rumour that the late learned 
Primate favoured the Unitarian principles, it is a certain fact that the Primate's own 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



305 



It was an object of primary consideration with the society, 
that the Version published under their sanction should contain 
notes explanatory of those passages which are commonly under- 
stood as giving the greatest countenance to popular errors, and 
especially of those which bear upon the Unitarian controversy. 
And it was judged expedient that these notes should commonly be 
extracted from the works of authors who are esteemed by 
Unitarians as the most judicious expositors of the Scriptures, and, 
as far as might be, should be expressed in their own words \ and, 
at any rate, without any asperity of censure upon Christians of 
different sentiments who interpret the Scriptures in a different 
manner. By the introduction of these notes, in which brevity was 
to be consulted as far as was consistent with perspicuity, it was 
intended that Unitarian Christians who might be in possession of 
the Improved Version, might at all times be able to recur to the 
most approved interpretations of difficult and disputed texts, 
especially those which are of the greatest importance for establish- 
ing the doctrine of the Unity and unrivalled supremacy of God, 
and of the proper humanity of God, and of the proper humanity 
of Jesus Christ ; and others who wished to know what the real 
sentiments of the Unitarians are, and how they explain those texts 
which are commonly understood as contradicting their opinions, 
might gain the information which they desire. 

It was determined to publish two large editions at the same 
time ; one in royal octavo, the other for common use in royal 
duodecimo. And as some expressed a wush for the Version with- 
out the explanatory Notes, a numerous edition in a smaller form 
was printed for their satisfaction. It was also resolved that a 

brother, who was a worthy tradesman in London, not perhaps deeply versed in theological 
lore, did assure Dr. Priestley that his brother's opinions coincided with Dr. Priestley's, 
and that he had heard the Primate say it. The Primate's Works, and Dr. Stock's 
testimony, prove that this respectable gentleman was mistaken. Perhaps, however, the 
learned Primate, who was certainly a profound theologian, and mighty in the Scriptures, 
might satisfy his mind, as Mr. Lindsey once did, with Dr. Wallis's hypothesis, 
sanctioned by the University of Oxford, and the three names in the Trinity, of Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit, were nothing more than three different titles of the same in- 
dividual person ; like the Gfod of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob ; 
which is, in fact, the purest Unitarianism. 

X 



306 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



subscription should be opened to defray the expense of the under- 
taking, and that the money should be paid in advance; that the 
Committee, who were appointed to superintend the publication, 
might be in possession of ready money to enable them to go to 
the best market. 

This plan of an Improved Version with explanatory Notes was 
adopted by the Unitarians and their friends with the greatest 
ardour. The subscription was filled rapidly. The venerable 
patriarch, who is the subject of this Memoir, delighted and grate- 
ful to Divine Providence that he had lived to see the accomplish- 
ment of the fervent and favourite wish of his heart, approving 
most heartily, in concurrence with his intelligent and zealous 
consort, of every part of the plan, was eager to open the sub- 
scription with a liberal donation of fifty pounds ; the Duke of 
Grafton gave fifty guineas, and a second donation of fifty pounds. 
Samuel Prime, Esq., in whom every scheme for the improvement 
and happiness of mankind found an enlightened and munificent 
patron, gave fifty guineas to the first and twenty to the second 
subscription.* The example of liberality set by these eminent 

* The laudable example of William Smith, Esq. (whose manly, independent, and 
persevering exertions in the cause of civil and religious liberty, in that honourable house 
of which he is now a veteran member, are universally acknowledged and admired,) 
ought not to be passed over in silence ; who, in addition to his own liberal subscription 
to the Improved Version, purchased a considerable number of copies, which he sent 
down to the tutors of the colleges at York and Wymondely, to be distributed as presents 
among the candidates for the ministry in those respectable institutions ; to which copies 
were prefixed the following judicious remarks : 

" Search the Scriptures ; for in them ye think that ye have everlasting life ; and they 

bear witness of me" 

It having been thought expedient to attempt an Improved Version of the New Testa- 
ment for the reason stated in the Introduction to the following work, this copy of it i8 
presented to the student, not with any view or wish unduly to influence his opinion by 
authority, or to entrap him by the charm of novelty into any change ; but merely to 
afford him additional motives and facilities for the careful and anxious study of the 
Sacred writings. — This, in proportion to his opportunities, is allowed to be the duty of 
every Christian ; but more especially of those dedicated to the ministry, who, before they 
commence teachers of others, should themselves be diligent to learn ; and should resolve 
not to rest satisfied with any system which, from education, connection, example, or 
authorit3 r , may have been their early creed, unless by serious, and, as far as is perm tted 
to human frailty, impartial inquiry, they shall have acquired for themselves a conviction 
of its truth. 

The writer of this notice may be supposed himself to have settled opinions ; but he 
has ever been adverse to the practice, too prevalent among all sect?, of usurping to 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



307 



characters was followed by many others equally willing, if not 
equally able to contribute ; and in a short time the sum requisite 
for the commencement of the undertaking was raised, and the 
press was not delayed for an hour by the want of necessary funds, 
In two years the work was complete ; and the several parts, as 
they were printed, were placed in Mr. Lindsey's hands, who was 
pleased to express his high approbation both of the plan and of 
the execution ; and it may truly be said that the perusal of the 
Improved Version, reading it himself or hearing it read by others, 
constituted the principal part of Mr. Lindsey's enjoyment during 
the remainder of his life. 

Of a work in which many are so deeply interested, and of which 
every one thinks himself competent to judge, it is impossible that 
there should not be a great diversity of opinion, both as to the 
design and execution. Accordingly, when the Improved Version 
made its appearance it soon became an object of rigid criticism 
and severe animadversion. 

The " Title 99 was objected to as arrogant and assuming. The 
editors, however, are not conscious of being influenced by an 
improper spirit. They called it an Improved Version, because 
they regarded Archbishop Newcomers translation as a very great 
improvement upon the public Version, and they conceived their 
own alterations to be an improvement upon the Version of the 
learned prelate. Nor did they see that there was greater arrogance 
in calling their work, or rather that of the Primate, an Improved 

themselves epithets, in their very terms decisive of all controversy. Who but the in- 
fallible shall presume to arrogate to himself alone the title of orthodox or evangelical 1 — 
who, duly conscious of the weakness of his reason and the strength of his prejudices, 
shall claim to be exclusively rational arid, liberal ] — The question still remains, as in our 
Saviour's time, u What is the truth V i.e. the true doctrine of the Gospel. That which 
is not such cannot be either orthodox or evangelical. Nor is it possible that this truth 
of God as it is in Jesus, when ascertained, should not be found sufficiently rational and 
liberal for his creature man : — rational, — for, " He that giveth understanding, shall not 
he know ']" — and liberal, — (if indeed in such a connection the word be at all allowable) 
for it is of the essence of that truth to " make us free," — free from error — free from 
prejudice — free from uncharitableness. — While then to the Gospel all Christians equally 
appeal, it is surely equally incumbent on all to scrutinize its contents, with patience 
and reverence indeed, but without that servile fear which, as it paralyses man's 
intellect, can surely never be pleasing to God who gave it, commanding us therewith 
to " search the Scriptures " " that we may know Him and Jesus Christ whom he hath 
sent." 



308 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



Version, than in calling Dr. Clarke's Liturgy, a Reformed Liturgy, 
or the Protestant Church, a Reformed Church. 

The editors are also blamed for stating that their Version is 
"upon the basis of Archbishop Newcome's," as though they 
intended to impose upon their readers, and to make the Arch- 
bishop responsible for their opinions. But the reasons which 
induced them to adopt the learned Primate's Version have been 
assigned already : and not to have acknowledged the obligation 
would have justly exposed them to the charge of fraud and 
plagiarism. — That they intended to shelter their own peculiar 
opinions under the authority of the Primate's name cannot be 
believed for a moment by any person of common understanding 
who reads beyond the title page.* 

It has even been surmised that the editors, professing that the 
Improved Version is " published by a society for promoting 
Christian knowledge and the practice of virtue by the distribution 
of books," intended to insinuate that they published under the 
patronage of the society at Bartlett's Buildings for distributing 
Bibles and Common Prayer Books. But the venerable society 
may rest assured that it was an object tbe most remote from the 
thoughts of the editors to take shelter under their fostering wing. 
They did not even know that the title of the society, under whose 
direction they acted, so nearly accorded with that of any other 
society. In fact, they thought it needless to insert the word 
Unitarian in the title page, which would deter some ignorant and 
prejudiced people from looking into a work from which they might 

* The enemies of the Improved Version may well be angry with the editors for 
having assumed the Archbishop's Translation as the basis of their own, for it has been 
the means of leading unwary critics into some egregious mistakes. Grievous have been 
the wounds which the unfortunate Primate has received from the hands of his undis- 
cerning friends through the sides of his heretical editors. One accomplished critic 
wonders, forsooth, that a Unitarian Version should not be more elegant and classical : 
not adverting to the fact that the Version, in the main, is not theirs, but the Primate's. 
Another learned and sagacious opponent cites the Archbishop's own words, as a proof 
how the Unitarians pervert the Scriptures to support their own unscriptural tenets. 
Some future opportunity may perhaps be taken to animadvert upon these and other 
misrepresentations. In the mean time it may be sufficient to remark, that these pitiable 
and ludicrous blunders cannot fail forcibly to remind the reader of the wisdom of those 
discriminating judges in the fable, who hissed the pig itself. 



REVEREND THEOPHTLUS LTNDSEY. 



309 



otherwise derive instruction. The learned and the honest Whitby 
did not think it necessary to write Armenian in his title page ; 
nor Guyse, nor Doddridge, Calvinist in theirs ; but each of those 
pious and laborious expositors explained the sacred text to the 
best of his own judgement : so do the editors of the Improved 
Version. 

It has been alleged as a great offence, that these editors have 
" given up the authenticity of the prefaces of Matthew and Luke." 
But they have assigned their reasons for this conclusion, and let 
their adversaries refute them if they can. 

It is further objected, that "they appeal to Lardner as favour- 
able to their hypothesis," though he decides directly against them. 
But all which they appeal to Lardner for, is to prove, which he 
has done most abundantly, that Herod died at least seventeen years 
before Augustus ; but Luke himself informs us, that Jesus was but 
lately turned of thirty in the fifteenth year of Tiberius :* and con- 
sequently he must have been born two years after Herod's death. 
And as to the idle fiction of the double date of Tiberius' s reign, it 
is well known to all who are conversant with Roman history, that 
this is a distinction which never existed till the time of the Lower 
Empire. 

It is further charged upon these daring editors, that they have 
presumed to " print the suspected chapters in a different type.'"' 
Had they, indeed, left out a passage that is found in all manu- 
scripts which are now extant, however suspicious in itself, there 
might have been some reason for charging them with indiscretion. 
But it was their fixed rule not to remove from the text any passage 
which was supported by the consent of manuscripts, however 
doubtful upon other grounds, and whatever proof there might be 
of its omission in copies of greater antiquity. But being convinced 
by the evidence alleged that these chapters are a palpable forgery, 
they considered themselves as fully justified in fixing the mark of 
reprobation upon them, though they would not wholly omit them. 

Some have objected to the introduction of any " theological 
Notes ; ' whatever, as savouring too much of a sectarian spirit, and of 

* See Grrotius in Luc. iii. 23. 



310 



MEMOIRS OP THE LATE 



dogmatism. But it has been already observed, that the main 
object of the society in publishing the Improved Version, was to 
represent what they believed to be the genuine sense of the sacred 
writings, and to guard against popular delusions. And of course 
the editors, being from inquiry and conviction Unitarians, would 
interpret the text in the Unitarian sense. And what should hinder 
them from doing so ? It is a practice in use among all parties, 
and laudably so. Had they, indeed, distorted the Scriptures, or 
forged texts to support their doctrines, they w T ould have been justly 
liable to censure; but of this they are either not accused, or not 
convicted. 

The editors of the Improved Version are further accused of not 
having " strictly adhered to Griesbach's text, and of not adopting 
all the improvements of his second edition " But everyone who is 
acquainted with Griesbach knows that more than nine tenths of his 
various readings are of the most trivial kind, and make not the 
least alteration in the sense. But to have introduced every trifling 
variation into the text, and to have supported it by notes and refe- 
rences in the margin, would have wasted much time ; would have 
answered no one valuable end ; and would either have swelled the 
work to too large a size, or would have occupied the space of more 
useful exegetical Notes. The design of the editors was to intro- 
duce the variations of Griesbach's interior margin ; and if they have 
omitted even one which would make a difference in the sense of the 
text, it was on their part wholly unintentional, and they will feel 
obliged to any friendly critic who will point out the error that it 
may be corrected in succeeding editions. As to various readings 
by which the sense is not affected, a very minute attention to these 
was not within the scope of their design. Yet they do not deny 
that where gentlemen have leisure and inclination to undertake the 
task, a translation including all Griesbach's preferable readings, 
supported by his authorities, w r ould be a gratification to the 
curious.* 

* In the fourth edition of the Improved Version a very minute attention has been 
paid to all the various readings of Griesbach s second edition, by the late reverend and 
much to be lamented T. B. Broadbent* 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



311 



The exertions, however feeble, which Mr. Lindsey made, in con- 
currence with the more active energies of Mrs. Lindsey, to en- 
courage the progress and to extend the circulation of the Improved 
Version, may be regarded as the last public act of Mr. Lindsey's 
life ; as the perusal of that work, when it was complete, was his 
last and greatest delight. To its composition it was too late for 
him personally to contribute. But to his valuable writings and 
comments upon the Scriptures, the Notes of the Improved Version 
are deeply indebted. And to the aged saint it was an exquisite 
gratification to see, that though he was now about to obtain his 
dismission from the world, his writings, and particularly his 
accurate and learned observations upon the Scriptures, would con- 
tinue to support Christian truth after he was gone. This bright 
star, which had so long diffused its mild and benignant influence, 
was now rapidly hastening to its horizon. Mr. Lindsey's health 
declined apace, and his infirmities visibly increased. But though 
at times he suffered much ; yet through the constant attention and 
great professional skill of Dr. Blackburne (who had thoroughly 
studied his case, and who watched and prescribed for his revered 
relative with filial solicitude), and by the tender, judicious, and un- 
wearied care of Mrs. Lindsey, his sufferings were greatly mitigated, 
so that he continued upon the whole in a comfortable state ; and 
to the last week of his life he enjoyed the company of his friends, 
though he was not able to support much conversation with them. 
Mr. Lindsey' s strength declined so fast through the summer of 
1808, as to allow little hope that he would be able to struggle 
through the severity of the winter. But no symptom of immediate 
danger appeared till the latter end of October, when he was attacked 
with a complaint which was judged to be a pressure upon the 
brain : and though the disorder appeared to yield in part to the 
usual applications, it was nevertheless attended with a very con- 
siderable degree of fever, which made it necessary for him to 
take to his bed on Thursday the twenty-seventh. The fever now 
increased rapidly, and it soon became evident how it would termi- 
nate. After Monday he lay in a state approaching to stupor and 
insensibility ; he took little notice of anything, and spoke little or 



S12 



MEMOIRS OF THE LATE 



nothing. Thus he was prevented from bearing that testimony to 
the truth and power of Christian principles in his last hours, which 
his friend Dr. Priestley had done, and which Mr. Lindsey himself, 
notwithstanding his great natural reserve, and his abhorrence of a 
loquacious and ostentatious piety, would no doubt have been glad 
to do. It is, however, said that some of the last' rational expres- 
sions which he was heard to utter were, "God's will is best;" but 
whether he spoke these words or not, we are sure that the principle 
was uppermost in his thoughts as long as reason and thought re- 
mained ; for a mind more resigned and more devoted to the will of 
God, more desirous and disposed to sacrifice all its fondest wishes 
and views to the decrees of all-governing wisdom and goodness, 
never existed.* He appeared to suffer little bodily pain; but his 
respiration grew gradually shorter, till at six o'clock in the evening 
of Thursday the third of November he ceased to breathe ; and left 
the world destitute of one of the most upright, consistent, and emi- 
nently virtuous characters which ever adorned human nature. 
Mr. Lindsey died in the eighty-sixth year of his age. He 
was buried in Bunhill Fields on Friday the eleventh of November, 
agreeably to his own request, in the most private manner, in a 
vault the property of which be had purchased twenty years before, 
and where the remains of his kind and generous friends Mrs. 
Rayner had, by her express desire, been already deposited ; and in 
the vicinity of which reposed his learned and venerable associate in 
labours and in self-denial, Dr. John Jebb. A sermon upon the 
occasion was preached at Essex Street on the following Sunday to a 
crowded audience of attentive and deeply-affected mourners, which 
was afterwards published. f 

* When Mr. Lindsey was a little recovered after his severe paralytic seizure in the 
beginning of the year 1802, Mrs. Lindsey thus expresses herself in a letter to the 
author, who was then upon a visit to a friend in the country : " He said this morning, 
after reading family prayer in his usual good manner, " I wish, if it is the will of Grod, 
to be enabled to finish my little work ; but should be sorry any moment that the will of 
God should not take place of mine, either by incapacity or by death/ ' 

f Discourses were delivered upon the same mournful occasion by many other ministers, 
friends and admirers of Mr. Lindsey, some of which were published ; particularly by the 
Rev. Robert Aspland, at Hackney ; the Rev. Dr. Toulmin, and Rev. John Kentish, at 
Birmingham ; and the Rev. J. H. Bransby, at Dudley : and Memoirs of Mr. Lindsey 
were published by Mrs. Cappe in The Monthly Repository, Mr. Joyce in The Monthly 
Magazine, and by Mr, Frend. 



REVEREND THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 



313 



Of the character of Mr. Lindsey, if the writer of this memoir 
has succeeded in giving a faithful exhibition of his mind and of his 
works, no large recapitulation is necessary. Disinterested glowing 
benevolence, springing from rational, ardent, and deeply-rooted 
piety ; supreme solicitude to discover truth ; unwearied pains in 
searching after it ; and inflexible firmness in what, after due in- 
quiry, he believed to be right ; just views of revealed religion, 
combined w r ith earnest but not obtrusive zeal for their promulga- 
tion, and blended w r ith the most unaffected humility, and a singular 
courteousness of manners, formed by early and familiar intercourse 
with the great ; finally and eminently, a commanding sense of God 
and duty, constituted the principal lineaments in the character of 
this excellent and truly venerable man. To have been his coad- 
jutor in the cause of divine truth, his friend, his successor, and his 
biographer, is a privilege of no common value : and to be admitted 
hereafter into the society of such men as Lindsey, Priestley, Price, 
and J ebb, and of other eminent lovers of truth, and confessors in 
the glorious cause, and to share in their lot, whatever it be, is the 
highest felicity of which the writer of this memoir can form a 
conception, or to which he presumes to aspire. And happy will 
he think himself, and amply rewarded for all his labour, if this 
imperfect delineation of the character of his venerable friend shall 
excite the ambition of any of his readers, and especially among the 
rising generation of ministers, to emulate the spirit of the departed 
prophet, and like him to be ready, when duty calls, to sacrifice 
every secular consideration upon the altar of truth and integrity, 
leaving consequences without dismay in the hands of governing 
wisdom and goodness ; which, if their future services be needful, 
will open a different and perhaps a more extensive sphere of use- 
fulness ; or, if that should be denied, will not forget in the day of 
final remuneration the generous self-denial, the dutiful submission^ 
nor the virtuous purpose, of the pious and upright heart. 

Mrs. Lindsey survived her venerable husband three years and two 
months. The health of this excellent lady was completely broken up 
by her close and auxious attendance upon Mr. Lindsey during his 



314 MEMOIRS OF THE LATE THEOPHILUS LINDSEY. 

long illness and growing infirmities : so that had he lived a few 
months longer he would probably have been the survivor. And 
though her constitution seemed for a time to recover itself, and 
gave reason to hope for continued life, yet the stamina appear to 
have been worn out ; and a gradual decay both of corporeal and 
mental vigour soon began to take place, till after a short illness she 
expired January 18, 1812, in the seventy-second year of her age, 
and was buried the week following in the same vault with Mr, 
Lindsey and Mrs. Rayner. A funeral discourse bearing testimony 
to the uncommon merits of this admirable woman, was delivered 
to a numerous and sympathizing audience on the Sunday after the 
funeral, and has since been published. It may be added that Mrs. 
Lindsey' s intimate friend, Mrs. Jebb, the relict of the celebrated 
Dr. John Jebb, a lady of the highest intellectual attainments and 
accomplishments, a fellow labourer and fellow sufferer in the same 
righteous cause, died two or three days after Mrs. Lindsey, and 
was buried with her husband in the contiguous grave. 



THE 



END. 



APPENDIX. 



No I. p. 5. 

The following letters exhibit a specimen of the terms upon 
which Mr. Lindsey stood with his noble patronesses, and of the 
high estimation in which he was held by them: — they also contain 
no mean illustration of the piety and virtue of the illustrious 
writers. 

FROM THE DUTCHESS OF SOMERSET. 

Percy Lodge, July the 9th, O.S. 1751. 

Sir, 

I received your letter last week, and intended writing on Sun- 
day as usual, but when that day came I found it impracticable ; 
Mr. Saunders having found it more employment than I chose, by 
sending a long letter of business which I was obliged to answer. 
I hope your little pupil is w 7 ell, though you did not name him in 
your last. Mrs. Pearse* dined here yesterday, in her way to the 
Forest, she looks thin, but otherwise w T ell, and in pretty good 
spirits. She owns that Mrs. Scott has done more for her than she 
could have expected from the best daughter, and has taken the 
w T hole trouble and business off her hands. I find she thinks her 
circumstances will be easy, though not great ; the house in the 
Forest is to be sold ; she is not yet resolved about that in London. 

As things generally happen crossly, Lord Bateman and Mr. 
Bateman came in a little before three, and old Saunders just at 
twelve, but we left him to himself : however, he chose to stay din- 

* This is the ]ady referred to in p. 6, who bequeathed to Mr. Lindsey the next 
presentation to the rectory of Chew Magna. 



316 



APPENDIX. 



ner. Mr. Cowslad says you write to us because you think it civil, 
when you are not a bit inclined to it : he is a good deal better, 
and so am I, but we can neither of us yet boast of our activity. 

My domesticks go on pretty peaceably, though Edward met 
with a trial of his patience last Saturday, which would have stag- 
gered yours or mine. He was almost mad with the pain of a 
hollow tooth, and went to Colebrook to get it drawn; but the 
cruel operator, instead of it, drew the only sound one in his 
head. I do not know what you will think of me when I tell you 
I am going to try the Glastonbury water here, and own to you 
that I am induced to it by a persuasion that the discovery of it 
is in some degree miraculous; and if one may believe affidavits, 
witnessed by ministers of parishes and churchwardens, the cures 
it has performed are so too, in scorbutic cases, king's evil, and 
asthmas of many years standing, as it is witnessed by their 
nearest neighbours. I have had no letter from Lady Huntingdon, 
but I hear she is at Cheltenham, and pretty well. Clavering has 
done plaguing me, but I have sent his son ten guineas this 
morning. I have heard but twice from Lady Northumberland 
since she left London, by which I conclude, she finds diversions 
and company are not confined to the town. You judge very 
rightly that a little spirit and resolution would contribute greatly 
to my tranquillity ; and I often lament the want of it, not only as 
a misfortune, but as a fault, since it is often necessary, to enable 
one to support one's integrity through a wayward and designing 
world, where few are what they appear to be : yet even that 
w r ould be of little consequence, was one perfectly assured of 
being in the right one's self. 

My gentlemen send you their compliments; and I desire my 
compliments to little H. who, I hope, improves in more things 
than his French ; for, though that is a very proper accomplish- 
ment of a gentleman, there are yet higher titles to be aimed at, 
those of an humble Christian, and lover of all mankind. I am 
glad you find the air you are in agrees with your health. Lord 
Albemarle is made groom of the stole, and Lord Rockingham lord 
of the bedchamber. 

I am, Sir, 

Your affectionate friend and humble servant, 

F. Somerset. 

A. Monsieur 
Monsieur Lindsey, chez Monsieur Pillard, 
a Blois. 



APPENDIX. 



317 



FROM THE SAME . 

Sir, 

We were all very sorry to find by your last letter that yon have 
had so violent a cold : but if your weather has been (as I think 
by your letter it has) like ours in England, it is no wonder that 
you have suffered from it, for I never remember so cold and wet 
a summer. You may depend upon my silence, in regard to your 

observations on Lord W ^s constitution, as I know the 

ticklishness of treating some subjects without giving offence, 
which I am sure neither you nor I intend to do. I am so far 
from thinking you oddly employed, when you were contemplating 
the storm of thunder and lightning, that I rather envy you for 
the fortitude which is necessary to be a calm spectator of so awful 
and noble a scene. My own want of that virtue often makes me 
apprehensive that I am in the number of the wicked, who flee 
when no man pursueth, while the righteous are bold as a lion ; 
yet I do not despair of becoming better, and consequently more 
courageous, as I can with truth affirm it is the only point I have 
in view ; and my most earnest desire to keep God in all my 
thoughts. Yet how apt are the cares, and even the amusements 
of life, to displace his image, and obtrude their own vexatious im- 
pertinence in his room ! Poor Lady Thanet is dead. I am told 
that when Lady Huntingdon heard of her illness, she sent to 
offer her to come and prepare her for that solemn hour : but 
Lady Thanet sent her word it was in vain, for she could neither 
be prepared to live or die. Her great care upon her death-bed 
was the fear of being buried alive ; to prevent which, she ordered 
herself not to be taken out of her bed for twelve days. She has 
left her daughters ten thousand pounds a-piece. The last we 
heard of the Dutchess of Richmond was, that her doctors had 
little or no hopes of her. The mortality which within two years 
and a half has been so remarkable amongst men of the first rank, 
seems beginning amongst the ladies, but still the same eternal 
round of dissipation is pursued ; cards and gay parties are the 
great business of the modish world. The Duke of St. Alban's 
died last Saturday se'nnight, and I am afraid has left his family 
in very indifferent circumstances. If going abroad is a preserva- 
tive for health, I may expect to be very well ; for within these last 
three weeks I have been at London, twice at Sion, dined with 
Mrs. Mordaunt, been at Thorpe with Mrs. Foley, visited at Bui- 



318 



APPENDIX. 



strode, and, in short, tired myself and my horses sufficiently. To- 
morrow Lord and Lady Brooke, Lady Archibald and Miss 
Hamilton, Mrs. Mordaunt, and Mr. Hamilton, are all to dine here; 
and on Thursday Lord Guernsey and Lady Charlotte, I dined 
last week at Isleworth with the Dutchess of Somerset, and saw 
my little nephew, who is a fine child. Mr. Bernard spoke of you 
in a very friendly manner ; I think he appears a modest pretty 
kind of man. A sermon of his is much talked of at Isles worth 
for the singularity of the text, which was " Remember Lot's 
wife ; " and his discourse greatly admired for the piety and good 
sense of it. 1 am with very sincere friendship, 

Sir, 

Your most faithful humble servant, 

F. Somerset. 

To the Reverend Mr. Lindsey. 

PROM THE SAME. 

Michaelmas Day, O.S. Sunday, 1751. 

Sir, 

T fully intended writing to you, either by Sunday or Tuesday's 
post, but was prevented by a swelled face and pain in my 
head, which put me extremely out of order : it is not yet quite 
gone ; but as it is something better, I would no longer defer tell- 
ing you that I am very glad to see Lord and Lady Northumberland 
lay hold of the first opportunity in their power of showing their 
regard for you. I only wish that the living of Chatton were 
of greater value, or that in Yorkshire were entirely free, which- 
ever you choose; they have had the kindness to tell me they 
will not think of your leaving my family ; but I know your 
thoughts in relation to the duty of a parish too well to reckon 
upon keeping you in it; for which reason I must apply to you 
whenever it becomes necessary for you to change your situation, 
that you will be so good as to choose a successor who will conduct 
himself as nearly like you as possible, for I am as little fond of a 
pretty gentleman in a gown as out of one. I opened Mr. 
Comber's letter because you desired me ; it did not contain above 
eight lines, complaining of not hearing from you, begging to 
do it soon to relieve his fears for your health; and telling you 
he had met with many mortifications, that he feared he had 
lo*t Almira's correspondence, by no fault of his, but her over 
delicacy. The huge paper enclosed was two or three hundred 



APPENDIX. 



319 



lines, on the immensity of the Divine Being, which appeared to 
me unequal to a much humbler subject. 

I had a very agreeable letter last week from Dr. Oliver, who 
tells me that Lady Huntington is pretty well, and much employed 
in attending Dr. Doddridge, who is in a deep consumption at 
Bath, but is to set out in a few days in order to embark at 
Falmouth for Lisbon, from whence, it is Dr. Oliver's opinion, 
he will never return. Lady F. Shirley was w 7 ith me two days 
ago ; she told me that Mr. Hervey is quite recovered : but Lady 
Pembroke's marriage with a man of no birth or money (though, 
it is said, a very sensible agreeable man,) pinned us down to mere 
worldly conversation ; and to tell you the truth in a whisper only 
for your own ear, her ladyship seemed to think, that as Lady 
Pembroke could not be easy to live without him, she had acted 
more prudently if she had taken him on any other terms ! You 
will easily believe this doctrine amazed me in the mouth of so 
pious a person, and that I have not thought fit to mention it 
to one of my company, as he needs no new motives to censure 
whatever he fancies aims at being more serious than the fine world 
in general. Mr. Wilkins writes me word that Mrs. Wilkins is 
almost well, and proposes being here himself a few days after 
Michaelmas. 

A. C. is ill at Oxford, and his wise father has wrote to desire he 
may come hither to be taken care of and drink asses milk, 
and desires me to send for Dr. Hayes as often as is neces- 
sary. This I must beg to be excused from, as Lord and Lady N. 
will be here this week, and I expect Mrs. Pearse and Mr. Scot very 
soon. I have only one milch ass, of which my poor gardener 
is drinking the milk, though I doubt to very little purpose, for he 
appears quite spent in a consumption, though James's powder 
did cure his fever. I thank you for the epigram, which I 
read without blushing. 1 should have been glad to see the young 
nun take the veil, but at the same time have felt some concern lest, 
in so tender an age, she might have been influenced or awed into 
it by her friends; or supposing it were her inclination at present, 
how little it could be depended upon to last fifty or sixty years, 
which she may probably live. I saw Lady Pomfret last Saturday, 
and said all I could think of to express your gratitude and 
my own, both to her and the Bishop of Blois, for his civility 
to you and your little charge, to whom I desire my blessing. 
I think the King of France disposes of his money in giving 



320 



APPENDIX. 



portions to young women much better than if it were to procure 
fire-works, masquerades, &c. 

I had left all the space betwixt these two lines to direct my let- 
ter, that it might not be a double one ; but Lord and Lady N. 
came in just as I was finishing it on Thursday, and staid till eleven 
o'clock this day; they bid me make their compliments to you, and 
send Lord W. their blessing. Lady Pomfret sent us a letter in 
English, w r hich she has received from the Bishop of Blois, where 
he expresses himself so kindly on Lord W/s account, that his 
father and mother as well as myself are extremely obliged by the 
notice he takes in it both of him and you. 

The Duke of Bolton I fancy will find a stronger restorative in 
his Dutchess's death than from all the air in France; she died 
last Monday was se'nnight. How widely do the great and little 
folks differ in sentiments ! Poor Obadiah is in the deepest affliction 
for the loss of his wife. They tell me you will be obliged to come 
over, if you accept either of the livings, in which case I hope 
you will find a few hours, if not days, to let us see you at Percy 
Lodge, where you may always be assured of a most friendly and 
sincere welcome from, 

Sir, Your most faithful humble servant, 

P. Somerset. 

FROM THE SAME. 

Downing Street, March 14th, O.S. 1752. 

Sir, 

I heartily wish my constitution would as readily enable me to 
comply with the desires of my friends as my inclination submits 
to what they prescribe, but I am afraid I have little reason to in- 
dulge so flattering a hope ; I have hardly enjoyed an hour's health 
since I came hither, and though 1 have been out four or five times 
I am now confined again with great pain and lameness ; a great 
inflammation upon my leg cannot be produced by fancy ! and sit- 
ting continually in one place has brought an almost constant pain 
in my stomach, attended with great oppression and shortness of 
breath ; these are not good ingredients to give me spirits for mix- 
ing with the beau monde; and indeed were I in better health, I 
believe I should as easily enter into the manners of the fine folks 
in the moon, as into the present fashionable way of life in London 9 



APPENDIX. 



321 



so different it is from what it was when I left it three years ago. 
I have had a letter from Lady Huntingdon, who seems very much 
pleased with Lady Rawdon's marriage, and says that Lady Selina 
is much better. Lord Coventry was married to Miss Gunning 
this day se'nnight, and L idy Charlotte Capel is to be so very soon to 
Mr. Villiers, Lord Jersey's brother, and Lady Di. Egerton to Mr. 
Seymour's son by Lady Hinchinbrooke. The Chapter is to be 
held on Friday for giving away the garters, the new knights are 
declared, and they are not all those who were first talked of ; they 
are Prince Edward the little Stadtholder, Lord Lincoln, Lord 
Winchelsea, and Lord Cardigan. 

The constant good accounts you send us of Lord W. are very 
encouraging; pray assure him of my blessing, and tell him his 
papa has won the service of Dresden china, which was raffled for 
at White's, and valued at .£400. I see by the advertisement that 
Mr. Mason is going to publish a poem called Elfrida, which I shall 
certainly buy if I am alive at the time it comes out. Miss Blandy 
is condemned for the barbarous murder of her father, and you 
will wonder at me for being discontented that she is only to be 
hanged. H. is marched off at last, though I could not get her 
out of my house till the new housekeeper had been two days in it. 
I hope she will prove more peaceable. It signifies little what out- 
ward appearances and ceremonies are observed, if the heart and 
intentions remain inflexible ; and yet some shadow of regard to 
the mere observances of religion, may serve to renew the remem- 
brance that there is the reality of such a thing in nature, though 
laid aside for the present ; but here the names of times or sea- 
sons are never thought of, unless when the fine ladies are ex- 
pressing their gratitude to Lady Cobham for comforting them 
in the Dutchess of Dorset's absence by having an assembly on 
Sundays. 

The Dutchess of Somerset, my mother-in-law, did me the honour 
of a visit yesterday morning ; she is not well, and is to go to Bristol 
as soon as Lady Charlotte is brought to bed, which is expected 
about the beginning of May. 

I am with sincere friendship, 
Sir, 

Your most faithful humble servant, 

F. Somerset. 

A Monsieur 
Monsieur Lindsey, a Orleans. 

Y 



322 



APPENDIX . 



FROM THE SAME. 

Downing Street, March 19, 1752. 

Sir, 

As I do not love to have any of my bright actions pass unob- 
served by my friends, and as I am afraid they may be neglected 
by the foreign news-writers, I had a mind to let you know under 
my own hand, that J was last night at a ball at Northumberland 
House, where all the people who are famed for beauty, youth, 
gaiety, and grandeur, were assembled ; the house and suppers in 
three rooms were truly magnificent, and the owners did the 
honours with a politeness and cheerfulness which I think could 
not fail to please, at least it ought not, for it mast have given them 
infinite trouble as well as great expense, and poor Lady Northum- 
berland had a violent cold. I saw Lady Coventry there, who is 
certainly very handsome, but appears rather too tall to be genteel, 
and her face rather smaller than one would wish, considering the 
height it is placed, and her dress appeared more in the style of an 
opera dancer than an English lady of quality. Lady Di. Egertou 
and Mrs. Selwyn's granddaughter, Miss Townsend, appeared either 
of the full as pretty in my eyes with the addition of great 
modesty. 

The pure and eloquent blood spoke in their cheeks: 

which it would do in very few there, for they cannot paint more 
in France than our ladies do here ; and as we always run into 
extremes, white is as liberally laid on as rouge : poor Lady Mary 
Capel had, I believe, only the latter, but that in such abundance 
that it made her look older and plainer than ever I saw her. Now 
I must tell you under the seal of confession, that from some 
civilities I had received from Lady Lincoln, I thought it proper to 
make her some compliment; but when I came near her with that 
design, she was so very immodestly stripped that I was ashamed 
to look toward her and forced to drop my speech. The wind last 
Sunday alarmed me extremely here, but did me much greater 
injury at Percy Lodge, where it blew down the high elm behind 
King Edward's bench, turned the bench itself topsy-turvy and 
broke it all to pieces, blew down several rod of paling, and some 
of the best trees in my fields ; it broke a very tall fir-tree near the 
Gothic bench, above fourteen feet above the ground, and carried it 
over the wood into the Abbey walk, where it set it upright. Here 



APPENDIX. 



323 



some bricks were blown off Payne's chimney, who was dressing 
me, and rolled along the room over oar heads; and at that instant 
we heard the most dreadful yell below stairs that you can conceive : 
but what was our amaze when, upon running out, we found the 
staircase so filled with smoke and soot that we could scarce see 
one another or breath ! and Lady C. Petersham, with her hair 
about her ears, four children, and five or six maids with another 
woman whom I did not know, all screaming as if they were 
bewitched ! A stack of chimneys had fallen there, and the fire 
catched in two or three places ; but by the mercy of God nobody 
was hurt, and the fire soon stopped. The woman I did not know 
was Mrs. Cibber, who was reading a new farce to Lady C. when 
this accident happened. I meant to have dined alone that day, 
so my meal was slender ; but I could not help asking Lord 
Petersham and Lady Caroline to partake of it, as they could have 
nothing dressed at home, and none of their acquaintance (though 
Lady Lincoln lives but two doors off and was alarmed at the noise) 
had the humanity to invite them, which Lady C. seemed to resent, 
and I thought with reason. As I have now wrote sooner than my 
usual time, perhaps I shall exceed it before I write again ; and if 
the date of my next should not happen to please you, I hope you 
will not tear the letter before you read it. Pray assure your little 
charge of my blessing, and Mr. Thierchen of my remembrance. 

I am, Sir, 

Your very sincere and faithful humble servant, 

F. Somerset. 

A Monsieur 
Monsieur Lindsey, a Orleans. 



FROM THE SAME. 

Percy Lodge, March 5th, 1754. 

Sir, 

I feel myself extremely obliged to you for both your last 
letters, and would have told you so sooner if I could have resolved 
to send you a half a side of paper with nothing but formal thanks, 
which I think is not an obliging way of corresponding with one's 
friends. 

I was surprised to meet Lady Huntingdon upon the road last 
Saturday was fortnight ; she was on her way to London, but her 
coach drove bv so fast that I had only time to send Lomas after 

y 2 



324 



APPENDIX. 



her with my compliments ; she seemed to me to look as well as 
ever I saw her. 

Poor Mr. Thierchen has been laid up with the gout almost 
these three weeks, but insists it is the effect of having worn too 
short a stocking, in spite of the apothecary. A. has passed a 
month with me since Christmas : if he is not quite so droll as he 
was, he makes amends by displaying the seeds of every virtuous 
and generous disposition, with the most docile temper I ever 
knew : he would not tell a lye to avoid the severest punishment 
that he can have a notion of, and has no peace if he thinks he has 
offended the lowest person about the house. Poor Lord G. is the 
melancholy reverse of all these amiable qualities : with the face of 
a cherub, he is one of the most perverse, obstinate, ill-disposed, 
children that ever was born. He is severely and constantly 
whipped, at least once a week, but discovers no fear of punish- 
ment, and (what is much worse) no sense of shame when he is 
detected in lies that he has stood in for a week together, or for 
taking other people's things unknown to them ; and this last week 
he even ventured to sell a reading- glass for two shillings and there 
is no making him confess how he came by it. 

I am yet far from being in a good state of health, though I 
bless God, in a much less painful one than I was some months 
ago ; I have now no remains of lameness, but I am, from the 
shortness of my breath, obliged to be always carried up stairs 
and often down; yet this is not to excuse me from a London 
journey. I have promised to make my appearance there next 
Friday se'nnight, if no unforeseen accident happens ; but hope 
not to make a longer stay than I did last year, unless I am 
detained in Westminster Abbey. 

I was much obliged to you for sending that fragment of Milton, 
which pleased me much, and I took the liberty to copy and con- 
vey it to Miss Talbot, who was delighted with it, but made the 
sane objection with yours, that he was wrong in regard to that 
part of the Bible account of David's misfortunes and their source ! 
I must now, under the seal of confession, own to you, that after 
reading the Bible every day of my life for forty years together, I 
always understood it as Milton seems to have done. But since I 
received your letter I have read the history of David in Samuel, 
with all the attention I am mistress of, to find some other cause, 
and rummaged the library to find some commentator who would 
explain it — but they all seem to be in Milton's error — and even 



APPENDIX. 



325 



consulted the only divine in my reach (Clavering), who stared, and 
said he had always thought as Milton did. I hope you have some 
neighbours that you can converse with ; for, as partial as I am to 
retirement, I think absolute solitude is too melancholy a way of 
life for creatures intended by the wise ruler of all things for society. 
Our excellent friend Dr. Courayer has been very ill, but is got 
quite well again, and I had a very good and cheerful letter from 
him on Sunday morning. Indeed he has the only true cause for 
cheerfulness, the reflection on a well spent life, and having pre- 
pared himself to leave it whenever its great Author shall call him 
from hence. This preparation I hope I have been seriously en- 
deavouring after for many months and some years past ; but we 
are so apt to flatter and deceive ourselves, that I dare not trust 
myself too far, and find such continual defects in my best meant 
actions, as would take away all hopes of their efficacy if I did not 
trust in the merits and sufferings of our ever blessed Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ. 

I have told you I am better, and to outward appearances I am 
so ; yet I should not be surprised myself, nor would have my 
friends be so, if I should be dead before this letter reaches you. 
Dr. Hayes calls my disease a nervous asthma, in which case I may 
possibly suffer on some years longer; but by my own feelings, 
especially the violent beating of my heart and jugular veins, I 
should suppose it some great obstruction in my blood. I have 
hardly left room to subscribe myself, 

Sir, 

Your very sincere friend, &c, 

F. Somerset. 



No. II., p. 7. 

FROM THE COUNTESS OF NORTHUMBERLAND. 

Stanwick, June 27. 

Dear Sir, 

I know your friendship for me will prevent your thinking 
a letter troublesome, though it comes fraught with no other news 
but that of my safe arrival at this place, which happened on Wed- 



326 



APPENDIX. 



nesday last, after I cannot say a pleasant (for the first day we were 
choaked with dust, and the second deluged with rain) journey of 
three days, one of which we spent at York with Mrs. Smithson, 
where w r e have deposited Elizabeth. I find the whole country 
here in an uproar, as they say their former Archbishop (the late 
Metropolitan) Hutton died an Arian ; they own they do not know 
what that is, but are sure it is something that is not the right 
religion. We are impatient to hear of the taking of St. Malo's ; 
w 7 hich good news I hope a few more days will bring us. We leave 
this place for Newcastle to-morrow, where we shall stay a week, 
and then proceed to Alnwick. I had the ill luck to sprain my 
knee in such a manner at York, that I am not able to stir a step 
without a stick, which confines me from walking ; which, how- 
ever, I the less regret, as the weather is thoroughly disagreeable, 
being both damp and cold. As I am in some doubt about your 
direction, I shall send this to Northumberland House, and order 
them to carry it to Lord Huntington, where, 1 conclude, they will 
be able to learn how to convey it safely to you. My Lord desires 
his compliments to you, and I beg to trouble you with mine to 
Lady Huntingdon, Lady Selina, and Mrs. Hastings. I am, with 
the truest friendship, 

Dear Sir, 

Your most affectionate humble servant, 

E. Northumberland. 

To the Kev. Mr. Lindsey. 



FROM THE SAME. 

Alnwick Castle, July 25th. 

Dear Sir, 

I am very much mortified to find that you have entirely forgot 
me, for I verily think that if you had not, you would have let me 
have had the pleasure of hearing from you before now ; to no other 
cause can I assign it but your being in love, and to that account 
will I place it, as I think love the only justifiable excuse for forget- 
ting one's friends; and where that passion is divested of some of 
its sensual attributes, I think such an oblivion far from blameable, 
highly praiseworthy, as I am convinced no pas^on exalts the soul 
so much as it does, nay, even in great measure, spiritualizes it ; but 
this being a subject I am much more versed in the theory than the 
practice of, 1 am liable, like other theoretical and aerial castle- 



APPENDIX. 327 

builders, to have no foundation for my sparkling edifices ; but as 
they in beauty resemble the bubbles blown by children, they pro- 
bably do the same in fragility and short duration. Thus far had 
I talked wisely without meaning (as many wise people do), when I 
received the favour of your letter, for which I heartily thank you, 
and assure you, your letters are always truly welcome to me, come 
they often or seldom ; and though I am always glad to hear from 
you when you have nothing else to do, yet I am far from wishing 
you to write when you have either business, company, or what you 
allow me to guess at to prevent you. I was, as you observe, at 
Stanwick for two nights only ; but notwithstanding the shortness 
of the stay, I had time enough to hear a most admirable character 
of Mrs. Lmdsey elect, which gave me extreme great pleasure; and 
I also heard of a chance for a certain four thousand pounds, which 
(though I assure you, in an inferior degree) gave me great plea- 
sure also. We set out for Scotland the sixth day of next month, 
but of how long a duration our stay there will be I know not. 
We go from Berwick by Haddingtoun to Edinburgh, and from 
thence by Stirling and Glasgow to Air, so that we shall entirely 
cross that part of the island from east to west ; but as we do not 
proceed to the Isle of Skey, I fear I shall return without the gift 
of second- sight. Something of after-sight I believe I have men- 
tioned to you that I really think I have of a night when I go to 
bed, a very odd instance of which I had lately ; but the story is 
not interesting, and is besides too long for a letter. The last ac- 
counts we had of Lord TTarkworth were from Minden, where he 
arrived July 1 6th, after a most tedious march of twenty-five days 
(through miserable roads, in wretched weather), in perfect good 
health and spirits, and hoped to join the army the 18th or 19th. 
You may believe I am under the greatest anxiety for a son so 
deservedly dear to me; but to the care of the Almighty I commit 
him, who, I hope, will cover his head in the day of battle, and 
afford me the unspeakable pleasure of receiving him again after 
the campaign safe and with honor. I am sure he has not only 
my daily but hourly prayers, and I also beg to recommend him to 
yours. You are very good to have wrote to him ; I have sent him 
your letter, the receipt of which I am sure will make him very 
happy. I am very sorry any company I had deprived me of the 
satisfaction of seeing you, or washing you a good journey, before 
you left London. Lord IIchester J s estate is a noble one, and I 
hope he bestows it nobly : otherwise I am sure he does not deserve 



328 



APPENDIX. 



it. You have no notion how glad I was to hear of Sir Harry 
Heron ; I was very desirous to know if any of that family (one of 
the most ancient in this county) were yet in being. If ever you, 
Sir Harry, and myself are in London at the same time, I desire 
you will present me to him. I have often heard Mr. Delaval (the 
member for this county) say, that his mother frequently told him 
that in her memory nothing but trenchers were in use in Northum- 
berland, and that his grandfather had seventeen dozen of them ; 
and that in all the gentlemen^s families an officer called a trencher- 
scraper (for they were not to be washed) w r as kept for that purpose 
only ; and that Seaton Delaval (the seat of Long Delaval) and 
Chipchase (the seat of the Herons) were the only houses where 
they had pewter (and theirs was only dishes, and but few of them), 
which was only used on high days and holidays, and was admired 
by the whole country as an unusual piece of magnificence. This 
anecdote of his ancestors' grandeur I daresay Sir Harry never 
heard. Supper bell rings ; so 1 have only time to add my lord's 
compliments, and that I am ever, 

Dear Sir, 

Your faithful friend and humble servant, 

Elizabeth Northumberland. 



No. III., p. 11, 

FROM ARCHDEACON BLACKBURNE. 

March 1, 1756. 

My Dear Friend, 

I am much obliged to you for your last kind remembrance of 
me from Bristol; and if you had not made me a sort of promise 
that it would be followed presently by another, you would pro- 
bably have had this acknowledgment a post or two sooner. A 
gentleman, whose correspondence does me honour, lately trans- 
mitted to me a most curious case of a British dissenting clergy- 
man, who went to Geneva to be ordained, that he might avoid 
subscription to the Westminster Confession, or any such tests of 
human orthodoxy. He was chaplain to the Scots Greys (being yet 



APPENDIX. 



329 



unordained), travelled as tutor to two young gentlemen of the first 
rank, was himself a fine gentleman and excellent scholar, and yet, 
when, after having made the tour of Europe, and displayed his 
ministerial talents in Holland with the greatest applause, he came 
to settle in a congregation in Ireland, he met with rather worse 
treatment than Mr. Emlyn, being, as I understand him, perse- 
cuted and put to flight for opinions which he really held not, 
merely because he would not subscribe to those he did hold. By 
the way, this account (if I mistake not) was sent me upon a 
chimerical suspicion which my friend, himself a dissenter of emi- 
nence, has entertained that I am secretly pushing for a settlement 
among his brethren ; among whom he finds himself as uneasy 
as we find ourselves in the church of England. And lest you 
should think I have any such aim, it may not be amiss to inform 
you, that all these surmises have arose from a letter I wrote to a 
loquacious man, to enquire after the character of a dissenting 
academy in his neighbourhood, with a view of furnishing a young 
man for whom I am concerned, with a little mathematical learn- 
ing. You must not expect long letters from me from hence to 
the other side of Easter, as I have not only additional sermons 
weekly, during Lent, and catechising, &c, but am pressed on all 
hands to dispatch the Confessional, the plan after much debate, 
ab intus et extra, being now settled, and all occasions cut of squib- 
bing at the fungose Doctor, otherwise than as his solutions are 
considered in form among those of other men. 

March 2. No letter but one from Watson, announcing his safe 
arrival, and transmitting a curious MS. (w r rote by a lady) and 
tending to prove an indispensable obligation upon Christians to 
keep two Sabbaths in a week. When one sees what different 
opinions are founded upon the Scriptures, by different heads, and 
none of them void of plausibility, I am strongly tempted to parody 
a striking passage in the Gospel thus : Except your charity 
exceeds the charity of the Athanasians, methodists, mystics, and 
zealots of every sect, ye shall in nowise enter into the kingdom of 
heaven. 0 my friend, what shall we do to unlade our hearts of 
the world, and to fill them with God, so as to do, think, and say 
all to his glory ? I am so far a mystic as to think this attainable, 
and am miserable, wretchedly miserable, in finding myself so far 
behind those who have already attained hitherto. Pray for me, 
dear Mr. Lindsey, as I do daily for you, that we may be really 
instrumental in doing some of that good which is well-pleasing to 



330 



APPENDIX. 



God ; and, at least, that this evSoicia may receive no let, either 
from our indolence, or the incongruity of our doctrine or manners. 
O, what a glory to carry with us one soul to heaven for seraphs to 
rejoice over, and to raise the exultations of the heavenly host ! 
What are all the cares, riches, pleasures, or anxieties in the world, 
compared to this ? Teach me, for 1 know you can, how that frame 
of mind is to be put on which must carry us to our utmost perfec- 
tion in Christ. 

I am, with unabated love for you, the unworthiest of all your 
fellow servants, F. B. 



FROM THE SAME. 

Richmond, Nov. 15th, 1757. 
The choicest blessings of heaven on your noble and thrice 
worthy patroness for espousing, and on my dear good friend for 
recommending, the cause of the fatherless. If any thing farther 
remains to be done on our part towards forwarding the relief of 
these orphans you will let me know, and in the meantime I beg 
you would, with all humility, tender my sincerest acknowledge- 
ments to her good ladyship, to whose humanity and christian 
charity I hold myself the more obliged, as some other would-be- 
good ladies were applied to without success. Lady Northumber- 
land indeed would have delivered our petition, but that was to the 
other court, which we thought not so expedient as at Leicester 
House. My lord, too, has done an act of humanity and gratitude 
to a poor shoe-maker of this town, who was his schoolfellow, and 
often assisted him in his exercises at Richmond school, which will 
make me love him as long as I live. How shall 1 express the 
sense I have of the parental feelings of the good lady for her 
afflicted son ! Would to God my poor intercessions might take 
place, either towards removing, or alleviating what cannot be 
removed ! I was lately in company with a physician who told me 
he had been so fortunate as to prevent guttse serense in two ladies 
(one of them his own wife) by gentle and seasonable mercurial 
purges, at proper intervals. He says the sight of both is weak in 
general, and they have returns of the visual obstructions ; but the 
cinnabar pills have as yet never failed to remove them, and they 
pass their time very comfortably, so comfortably, that if he had not 
told me this circumstance I should never have suspected his lady 



APPENDIX. 



331 



(whom I see very often) of any such infirmity. He added, that in 
some other cases he had known this malady attended with a defluxion, 
in which case a solution of camphire in French brandy, softened 
with an emulsion of almonds, has done service by way of outward 
application. He adds, that he knew 7 an infirmity of this kind 
brought upon a young lady by over-bathing in Harrowgate waters. 
If any farther information I can get about these cases will be of 
use, let me know, and depend upon my utmost endeavours. 

Be ingenuous, my good friend : were any of the noble family 
with which you are connected, to be opposed in a borough, where 
your situation were the same as mine, could you be an indifferent 
spectator ? I wish I had time to tell you the beginning and whole 
progress of my engagements ; but Heaven has heard my prayers, 
and I trust the disagreeable contest is now at an end for this time. 
For such has been the firmness and unanimity of Mr. Yorkers 
friends, that Sir Conyers .Darcy thought proper the other day to 
send a message to the corporation, that, " in consideration of the 
peace of the town, he would acquiesce in any person the burgesses 
should make choice of." This has amazed some people, who knew 
not our preparations, of which the old knight had some intima- 
tions from London. Though, indeed, as he had secured the 
returning officer, I for my part expected he would have put us to 
our petition. Yesterday it was reported that the borough was sold 
to a young baronet, who has made some purchases of that sort in 
his own county. But this is so very dishonourable to a certain 
principal officer of state, that I cannot tell how to believe it, 
though apart from the circumstance of honour, it might not per- 
haps be improbable. My good friend will be cautious of men- 
tioning these matters as from me. However, take notice, all I 
have been concerned in has been fair and upright, and void of all 
corruption, which our worthy candidate abhors so much that he 
could not be brought into some measures recommended to him by 
some very honest friends as merely prudential, which if he had 
taken, he might have secured his seat beyond all dispute ; but his 
answer was, " That he had lived to the seventy-first year of his 
life without one reproach from his heart of contributing to the 
public corruption, and he would not sow the seeds of those thorns 
at this time of life." You will now collect perhaps an apology for 
me, without taking in my particular obligations and alliance to 
this family. But after all, alas ! I find too feelingly, that all this 
is but to busy ourselves about burying the dead } when we should 



332 



APPENDIX. 



be preaching the kingdom of God ; and it is impossible to tell you 
the impressions of my heart under a load of trash, which my soul 
abhors, and from which it shall ever be my study for the future 
to escape, if possible. 

I have not time to collect all the scraps I have of David Hart- 
ley's meditations, which are chiefly dispersed in M. P. H/s letters 
to me. But you may expect a summary of them from me within 
a very few posts. What good may be done in our parishes, and 
by whom the most, is a problem that I cannot undertake to solve 
for myself, much less for you. Pray God direct you in every 
thing ; your present avocation is not to be found fault with, and 
if Heaven had given me talents such as yours for consolation, I 
should surely have dispensed with my public province (at least for 
a time) when the occasion called me to the relief of such sufferers. 
For the rest, you know I put the whole upon a prior obligation to 
him who called me; an obligation I mean prior to all engage- 
ments, to church-modes and church nonsense in support of them. 
My principle of attachment to the Scriptures would make me 
uneasy in any other church I know of. If I can be of any service 
in this, God have the praise, it is a reason why I should press 
forward. He will reform all in his good time, and will not im- 
pute a failure in duty to those who would but cannot. In the 
mean time, I trust as to sincerity we have a good conscience. We 
fail not on all proper occasions to bear our testimony. We scruple 
not to acknowledge our own weakness in being drawn in to sub- 
scribe, especially the last time, when we fear the good opinion we 
had of a dear friend, and the regard we paid to his judgment, 
prevailed more with us than any conviction from the weight of his 
arguments, w T hich we have since found to be feeble and insufficient. 
In the mean time, this we know, if we know any thing of our- 
selves, that though we labour under manifold difficulties, arising 
from a large family, and a scanty income, and the necessity upon 
us of spending every shilling of it to answer the expectations of 
the w r orld in our station, and to avoid the least suspicions of 
avarice, yet would we not repeat our subscription, to gain the 
wealth of the Indies, or the honour and power of a popedom. 
Some people, my dear friend, would be much mortified that they 
could not give their children that polish of education which is 
necessary to recommend to respectable connexions with the world. 
I do not boast when I say I am got above all this. My en- 
deavours shall not be wanting to create them the most important 



APPENDIX. 



333 



connexions with God : if I succeed there, I and they are happy; 
happy in our obscurity and disengagements from many tempta- 
tions ; happy in seeing oar own infirmities, and ten times happy 
in the protection of a wise and gracious Providence, who will 
never leave us nor forsake us. Here comes three of them to call 
me to dinner. 

Grace and peace from the fountain of both be with yon. 



The following letter from Thomas Hollis, Esq. under the fictitious 
name of Pierce Delver, throws some light upon the reported 
invitation of the Archdeacon to succeed Dr. Chandler at the 
Old Jewry. 

Saturday morning, Oct. 18, 1766. 

Dear Sir, 

It gives me great pleasure to hear of the perfect recovery of the 
excellent A.D. (Archdeacon.) I fear he studies, labours too in- 
tensely, though to such noble purposes and great effects ; and the 
human machine though a very fine is yet a very delicate one. Let 
us applaud his magnanimity, however, and wish him every good ! 

At my visit to worthy Mr. Fleming, he told me, that he had 
been assured the people of the Old Jewry were inclined to invite 
the excellent A. D. B. to their chair, in the room of the late Dr. C. 
if they thought he would accept it. The same was told me more 
generally afterwards in mixt company. 

September 27. Worthy Dr. H. (Dr. W. Harris) wrote me as 
follows: "What think you of A. D. B/s succeeding the late Dr. 
C. at the Old Jewry ? I saw Mr. Amory at Taunton, and he tells 
me it is talked of by that society. The Confessional is much read 
and admired." To this I replied generally, as I remember, for 
I cannot copy everything, as follows : 

That I had avoided writing to you on the subject. 

That I knew the incomparable A. D. had a real and high 
esteem for the body of Protestant Dissenters. 

That whatever his resolution might be, I was confident the 
proposition, if made, would be treated by him with perfect 
civility and respect. 

That for my own part, I should be sorry the A. D. should 
accept the proposition, however handsomely tendered, for his own 



334 



APPENDIX. 



sake and the public; as I was persuaded it would render uncom- 
fortable, and shorten his valuable life by tcwn air and customs ; 
and lesson his power of doing great public good, by taking hirn 
out of the alone, precise situation in which, with his powers and 
magnanimity to effect it, he 

" Rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm." 

From Dr. H. I have not since heard. 

For the rest. The Dissenters are, it may be, best seen in their 
principles and not individually; though the people of the Old 
Jewry rank, not only in point of wealth, but of sense and polite- 
ness, among the first of them. 

I am, with highest respect to two gentlemen, Dear Sir, 

Your affectionate friend and most obedient servant, 

Pierce Delver. 

To the Rev. T. Lindsey, Catterick. 



No. IV., p. 35. 

A LETTER EROM HANS STANLEY, ESQ., TO MR. LINDSEY, AS- 
SIGNING HIS REASONS FOR DECLINING TO SUPPORT THE 
CLERICAL PETITION. 

Paultons, Nov. 12, 1771. 

Dear Sir, 

You certainly need no apology for addressing yourself to me 
upon any subject ; your own merit and our long acquaintance 
entitle you to my attention, and give you a right to expect that 
answer, which you are pleased to ask as a favour. 

You will give me leave to follow your introduction of this 
matter, by assuring you on my part, that if your request related 
to any private interest of your own within my small power, I 
should heartily wish to serve you ; but in the present case it can- 
not weigh with me to promote innovations in the law, which I 
think not only unnecessary, but extremely mischievous. 

The peace of mankind is a fortieth article of my religion, which 
I hold to be much more important than any of the thirty-nine 



APPENDIX. 



335 



objected to by those who, with a very blameable indiscretion (and 
some, I believe, from worse motives), are willing to disturb it. I 
shall not easily concede that any alteration either in these or the 
Liturgy is necessary, unless they contain doctrines contrary to 
sound morality and civil obedience, but even then I should by no 
means concur in the prayer of your petition; I should rather 
be led to a conclusion totally different, for I should think that the 
specific article ought to be amended, and not the whole set aside; 
but this is a work in the first instance for synods and convoca- 
tions : many preparatory steps, which I have not wisdom enough 
to indicate, ought to precede the parliamentary consideration. 

I deny that any of the Reformers whose names are transmitted 
to posterity with respect, ever adopted so wild an idea as that of 
a Christian society without an established church holding certain 
defined tenets. The liberty of judging for yourselves of the sense 
of Scripture is a possession, which, you say, all men have a right 
to enjoy; I not only agree with you in this proposition, but 
I will add, that you have a right to teach and inform others 
according to your own sense of Scripture, provided your lessons 
are conducive, or at least indifferent, to the happiness of mankind 
and the tranquillity of the state; but these concessions do not 
exclude every government from giving the preference to such 
forms, or to such doctrines, which appear most eligible in their 
united public sense, which constitutes the law. Therefore the 
ministers of Separatists are maintained at the expense of their 
congregations ; dignities and preferment belong exclusively to 
the Established Church alone; this has been, is, and ever must 
be the rule in the most tolerant states, and even in the freest 
republics. 

The wisdom of Providence seems in its dispensations to have 
reserved this authority for the future succession of Christian 
churches ; it never could be supposed that the poor, and the 
ignorant, who compose the greater number of the laity, could 
give up their labour for, and pass their lives in, the investigation 
of this divine system. It may perhaps be asserted, that the 
Scripture is so clear, and so full, that it wants no interpretation, 
nor any supplementary addition. If this be true, how happeus 
it, that we are hitherto not better agreed ? Why has the world 
been disturbed by so many leaders of sects and heresiarchs, who 
(if they were all now alive upon the face of the earth) might 



336 



APPENDIX. 



compose as large an army as that with which Alexander the Great 
conquered the Persian empire? Yet, all these men were convinced 
and maintained that their opinions were founded in, or derived 
from, Holy Writ. 

If the Scripture needs no explanation, I will turn Quaker, and 
join in any measure which tends to set aside your whole order as an 
useless expense. But if it does require explanation, I chuse to 
trust that task rather to the well digested and mature studies 
of our venerable Hierarchy, than to the crude transient notions 
which caprice, vanity, self-conceit, and folly may suggest to every 
idle coxcomb, who wants to be taken notice of for his singularity. 
I am therefore (within the bounds of toleration which I have laid 
down) an advocate not only for strict subordination, to overawe and 
coerce such dangerous impertinences, but for written canons, 
creeds, and articles to warn rash unthinking men of the future 
censure and punishment they may incur; for it is essential to 
justice to mark out plainly offences of every kind, and it is 
an arbitrary exertion of power to inflict penalties without such 
notice. I should at the same time strenously oppose the com- 
pelling any individual to sign any article of faith whatever. But 
nothing of this kind is at present done ; every man is left to 
his own free choice, and every honest man will therein follow 
the dictates of his own opinion ; nor will there arise the slightest 
inconvenience if (from peculiar objections to the Liturgy, or 
the Thirty-Nine Articles) some few persons more should chuse in the 
various professions of laymen to follow an active life of virtuous 
industry : I thank God we live neither in a desart country, nor 
an illiterate age, and I hope we are not likely soon to want a decent 
and worthy succession in our priesthood. 

If (as you are pleased to inform me) bishops and others have in 
their writings, preachings, &c. receded from what they have 
signed, and what the law has enjoined, 1 do not think the 
precedent so good as to wish the practice general ; nor does 
the example of a College in Cambridge weigh greatly with me : 
I have quite accidentally heard somewhat of the secret history 
which has passed within those wall ; if I am not deceived, that 
signature has been chiefly promoted by a factious abetter of those 
senseless seditious disputes which have divided us upon political 
subjects, and which are already enough envenomed without 
your throwing in the fresh corrosive of religious controversy. 



APPENDIX. 



337 



How total a fermentation such a mixture may produce is well 
known to all those who have read the history of this country for 
the last century. 

As no church is so purely of divine institution as not to smell a 
little of humanity, our Establishment may be liable to some 
errors ; yet does it leave you sufficient scope to be, as you actually 
are, a very good man, and to contribute greatly to render your 
parishioners such. The wisdom of government, ever since the 
house of Hanover ascended the throne, has maintained your order 
in the possession of sufficient respect, and has kept you perfectly 
quiet ; neither the good treatment you have enjoyed nor your want 
of power have been founded of the plan of any particular ad- 
ministration, they have arisen from the general sense and temper 
of this age. The reign of the Angelick and Seraphick Doctors 
is past and gone ; were they now to appear again, the world 
would busy itself very little about their subtilities ; nay, I am 
sanguine enough to believe that Prynne, Burton, and Bastwick 
would at present have few partizans unless they were perse- 
cuted, which I think very unlikely to happen to any man. The 
vice of the present times is rather too much indifference about 
religious matters, and opinions : if I might, therefore, as a real 
friend, presume to advise the clergy, they ought not, while total 
infidelity is gaining ground upon them, to expose any partial 
weaknesses of their system, and thus by trivial and frivolous dis~ 
agreements among themselves perhaps endanger the whole fabrick. 
I have sometimes in my more serious hours regretted that the 
poor Apocrypha found no better advocate, because by rejecting 
those books the rest of the Bible was perhaps brought under some 
decree of doubt ; and if the Liturgy or the Thirty-Xme Articles 
were now deserted, who knows where the growing incredulity of 
mankind would stop ? 

Upon the whole, my dear sir, I heartily wish it was possible for 
you to desist from a design which I so highly disapprove and 
must so entirely discountenance; but I well know the warmth 
with which these speculations are pursued by those who have once 
adopted them. I trust, however, there will be found sobriety and 
understanding enough in the House of Commons to reject your 
petition without any more debate than what every single member 
has a right to command upon every question however improper to 
be moved. I beg you will believe that though we differ so widely 
upon this public point, which I have endeavoured to treat with all 

z 



338 



APPENDIX. 



possible candour and frankness, I shall ever be ready to receive 
your commands with regard to all matters which regard yourself, 
or in which I can prove to you the affection and esteem with 
which I am, dear sir, 

Your most obedient and most humble servant, 

H. Stanley. 



Correspondence of Dr. Markham, Bishop of Chester, afterwards 
Archbishop of York, with Mr. Lindsey, upon his Resignation of 
the Vicarage of Catterick. 

FROM THE REV. T. LINDSEY TO THE BISHOP OF CHESTER. 

Catterick, Nov. 12, 1773. 

My Lord, ' 

It is my duty, arid full time that I should acquaint your Lord- 
ship with my intention of resigning the vicarage of Catterick, in 
your diocese of Chester, the latter end of this month. 

If your place of residence had been within any convenient dis- 
tance, as it w T ould have been more respectful, I should have been 
desirous to have waited on your Lordship, and made my resignation 
into your own hands. 

I am obliged to take this step after long deliberation, for the 
relief of my own mind, not being able in any way to satisfy myself 
with officiating according to the present forms of our church, and 
not thinking myself at liberty to make those very material altera- 
tions that would satisfy me : I mean in changing the object of 
worship, which to me appears to be sadly mistaken in many parts 
of the service. 

I have the honour to be, 
My Lord, 

Your Lordship's most humble and obedient servant, 

T. Lindsey. 

FROM THE BISHOP OF CHESTER TO THE REV. T. LINDSEY. 

Sion End, near Brentford, Nov. 16, 1773. 

Reverend Sir, 

I received this morning the favour of your letter, acquainting 
me with your intention to resign your vicarage, and at the same 



APPENDIX. 



339 



time signifying your motives. The business is so important, and 
the time you mention so very short, that I am using the first 
moment to give you my sentiments, in hopes that I may possibly 
put the question in such a light as may at least procure a sus- 
pension of your design. For, to say the truth, my heart has 
taken a very serious and sad concern in this transaction, not only 
from the charity which I owe to you, as my brother, and because 
I seek the truth, as I believe you do, but from the impressions 
which I have received of your character from two very good men, 
Mr. Cooper and Mr. Smelt. I have heard from them that you 
are a sincere believer of the Holy Scriptures : upon that ground 
I speak to you : the question is not to be tried at the bar of human 
reason, but depends entirely upon a true explanation of the divine 
writings, which those who have supported the opinions which you 
seem to hold are used to interpret in such a manner as the original 
languages can no wise suffer, and without it they could never have 
contrived to get over a number of texts which are as strong and 
explicit as any in the Bible. But carnal wisdom is followed. 
Philosophy will know everything, and has as yet discovered 
nothing ; it is still a stranger to the essence of the meanest thing 
about us, and yet will know the essence of the Deity, and will say 
this and this is contrary to it. Our religion is supported by the 
fullest and clearest testimonies, and yet the whole of it is truly 
incomprehensible from the creation of man to his final resurrection ; 
but the filiation of our Saviour is not only a great mystery, but 
though explained to us as far as is useful in our present state is 
from the nature of the subject particularly involved. We are pre- 
pared for this difficulty by the Prophet Isaiah ; his words are, as 
quoted in the Acts, tt)v($e ytveav avrov rig SiriyricreTai ? But the 
embarrassment has chiefly risen from the number of texts that 
seem to militate against his divine nature ; which must necessarily 
happen, as he is most commonly spoken of in his inferior capacity, 
the man Jesus, the visible Agent on earth, the Teacher, the Re- 
deemer, in which characters he has a more immediate relation to 
the human race ; and in which his office and ministration were 
exemplified. But there are other texts which are very express. 
I will mention a few of such as occur to me, and which I think 
least liable to disputation, because they appear in both the Old 
and New Testament, in the first applied to God, in the second to 
our Saviour. 

When Moses asks the name of God, he is told in those words 



310 



APPENDIX. 



which denote eternal existence that his name is I am. Our Saviour 
answers the Jews, Verily before Abraham was, / am. 

Isaiah says of God, At his name every knee shall bow, of things 
in heaven, &c, which very words are by St. Paul used directly of 
our Saviour. 

God is continually spoken of in the Old Testament, by the 
names of the just one, the holy one, &c. The same are applied to 
our Saviour. The appellation of the Lord is given to God through- 
out the Old Testament, by which Christ is constantly named in 
the New. 

Indeed I do not know what they would make of that person 
who is so often declared to be far above all angels, and whose shoes 
St. John Baptist (who had been declared greater than a prophet) 
was not worthy to unloose. 

I cannot flatter myself that this slight discussion of a great 
subject should have so much weight, as at once to determine you 
against your former deliberate reasonings ; but it may call to your 
memory how often we are told jttrj vTrepfypoveiv irap 6 (ppovuv, 
that without humbleness of mind our faith is always in danger. 
It may prevent your taking a hasty step, by which, if I do not 
misconceive your character, you of all men may be made most 
miserable, if you should see occasion to change your opinion, and 
then reflect that you had not only deserted your station, but had 
encouraged schism and heresy. Indeed, if you reflect that the 
words In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost 
were given by our Saviour to the Apostles, and that St. Stephen 
called upon Christ to receive his soul, you cannot think yourself 
unauthorised in the use of our forms, and may satisfy your 
conscience in acquiescing, at least, till all that is said in support 
of them can be disproved. I write this for your own use, and 
confidentially. I detest the wrangle of controversy. El rig Soku 
eivai (piXoveiKog, rijuug ovk e^o/iev roiavrriv Gvvr]6eiav. I quote by 
memory, probably incorrectly. Pray, consider this, and give me 
your answer. 

I am, with a true regard, 

Your affectionate brother, 

W. Chester. 

EXTRACT FROM MR. LINDSEy's REPLY. 

I am surely obliged to the friends your Lordship mentions 
for giving your Lordship such a favourable representation of my 



APPENDIX. 341 

character, and feel the serious concern and kindness which dic- 
tated the letter I have the honour to receive from you this morn- 
ing. 

It was natural for your Lordship with these dispositions to- 
wards me to bid me beware of precipitation in a matter of such 
moment. But though suddenly and so lately communicated to 
your Lordship, this resolution is no hasty step, but the result of 
many years' anxious enquiry and deliberation, and trying every 
expedient that might give me ease. 

And my faith is built not on a system of philosophy, but on 
an impartial examination of the mind and will of God, as dis- 
covered in the Old and New Testament, xlnd I am constrained 
on this occasion to tell your Lordship, that I am so persuaded of 
the strict unit}' of God, taught by Moses and the prophets, and 
last of all by our Saviour Christ, that though no one is further 
from condemning others that differ, I should hold it impiety in me 
to continue to worship Christ, or any other being or person. I 
cannot, therefore, continue to lead the devotions of a congregation 
in the Church of England, who esteem it sinful in myself con- 
stantly to use that worship and abet it. 

Your Lordship will believe, all those texts which you point out 
to me have fallen under consideration, and which if I note, it is not 
in the spirit of dispute, which ill becomes me towards you on such 
an occasion, but out of respectful attention to what you are pleased 
to select. 

[Mr. Lindsey having suggested the usual explanations of the 
texts alleged by the worthy prelate, proceeds as follows :] 

Whatever be the distressing consequences of this determination 
with regard to worldly things, I can never repent of it, as led to 
it by no motive but a desire to approve myself to God, and what 
my duty to him required. 



No. V. 

Letters to Mr. Lindsey upon his resignation. 

FROM THE RIGHT HONOURABLE GREY COOPER. 

Kew Lane, Nov. 6, 1773. 

My Dear Sir, 

I have received your letter, which filled my heart with grief, 
and made my eyes glisten with tears; I have not a word to say 



342 



APPENDIX. 



or an argument to offer against your resolution to quit your pre- 
ferment ; I must, however, lament the cruel necessity that forces 
you out of a situation in which you and your good wife might 
have continued blessings to your parish and neighbourhood ; I 
w r ill add only this short but sincere assurance, that it would give 
me the utmost satisfaction to have it in my power to assist you 
in any new course of life which you may think proper to follow. 
Lord North has seen your letter, and was affected by reading it ; 
he has an excellent heart, and a just feeling for every act of honour 
and conscience. It is not yet decided who is to have Catterick; 
Mr. Chayter has applied for it, and his brother-in-law, Mr. 
Robinson, my colleague; — will you allow me to ask what is the 
annual income of it, and on what account it is as you say eligible ? 
Perhaps it may be better than my brother's at Mansfield, and in 
that case I would try to manage an exchange between Mr. Chay- 
ter and my brother. I beg pardon for troubling you with such 
things at this time ; but as soon as I receive your answer I shall 
be able to inform you with certainty who will be your successor ; 
at present I am rather inclined to think it will be Mr. Chayter. 
My wife sends her best compliments to you; she was much moved 
with the contents of your letter. 

I am, my dear sir, 
Your affectionate friend and servant, 

Grey Cooper. 



FROM EARL PERCY, LATE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND. 

Nov. 1773. 

Stanwick, Wednesday morning. 

Dear Sir, 

I am sorry to find by your letter which I received just now, 
that I have been deprived of the pleasure of seeing you by 
a cold. When my mother was so good as to show me her answer 
to your letter, I told her I thought she had said all that could be 
said on that subject, but that I knew your way of thinking on 
that affair much too well, to suppose anything on earth could pre- 
vent you from resigning a living, which your conscience told you, 
you could no longer hold as a honest man, void of time-serving 
hypocrisy. I hope, however, I shall have the pleasure of seeing 
you here before you leave the country, as I do not think of going 
to town till after Christmas. At any rate I shall wish much to 



APPENDIX. 



343 



see your Reasons, when they are published ; and have not the 
least doubt but they will give me great satisfaction. I beg my 
respects to Mrs. Lindsey, and be assured I am and ever will be 

Your sincere friend, 

Percy. 



FROM THE REV. NEWCOME CAPPE. 

York, Not. 1, 1773. 

Dear Sir, 

Your truly christian and heroical determination is above my 
praise, and will afford you such hope and joy in God as will render 
human praise unnecessary to you, and human censure insignificant. 
I thank God from my heart, that there are men in the world who 
will buy the truth and sell it not. Your example, I think, can- 
not fail to increase the number of them. Sure, it must impress 
some hearts with a conviction that there is something serious in 
religious truth and liberty, and something real that is not of this 
world. The comfort and reward of confessing Christ you must 
have, and your name I trust will be held in everlasting remembrance 
by the friends of truth and virtue, and will continue to do good 
when your personal services are over. Those who esteem you as 
they ought, cannot be unaffected with the inconveniences you may 
suffer, and that not in your own person only, from your integrity. 
It is an afflicting thought ; but the utility of your example is con- 
nected with this circumstance, and I hope in God that the 
righteous will not be forsaken. As to the business you mentioned, 
Mr. Hotham (who presents to you his most respectful compliments 
and the sincerest tenders of his service) will join with me to do 
the best we can for you. If you will send either the books or a 
list of them, w r e will treat with a bookseller about them. It his 
proposal comes not up to your idea of their value, and the books 
are numerous enough, it may be worth while to sell them by a 
marked catalogue, and this, if you approve of it, we will do. I 
am greatly obliged to you for the tender regard you express 
toward me and my little family, and I remain, with the highest 
esteem, and all manner of good wishes for you and every one that 
is dear to you, 

Your affectionate humble Servant, 

N. Cappe. 

To the Rev. }Ir. Lindsey, at Catterick. 



344 



APPENDIX. 



FROM THE REV. SAMUEL BADCOCK OF BARNSTAPLE. 

June 11, 1774. 

Rev. Sir, 

Having read your Apology with peculiar pleasure, I cannot resist 
the impulse of writing to you. There was a time when, shackled 
by the bonds of intellectual slavery, I should have shuddered at 
your freedom, and have forgot your honesty amidst your heterodoxy- 
But now I measure mankind on a larger scale, and if I see the 
former I forget the latter. My travels in the theologic region 
have been variously conducted : but amidst every intricacy I never 
lost sight of sincerity. When reason was hoodwinked, that, like a 
faithful companion, attended even my wanderings; and I hope 1 
shall never forfeit the protection of such a friend. I enter into 
your feelings with a sympathy which I cannot express. I in- 
sensibly catch your spirit as it shines forth in the mild lustre of 
primitive simplicity; and pray that I may be a follower of those 
who through faith and patience pursue the promises. 

Most heartily do I congratulate you on that exalted superiority 
of mind which, abstracting you from the world, must inspire you 
with such joys as the world cannot give nor take away. They 
flow from that noble independence which is the first gift of heaven. 
Go on and prosper. May the influence of your example be as 
diffusive as corruption hath been ! Truth, like the sun, may be 
clouded, but cannot be extinguished — No : it will, when it begins 
to dawn, pursue its course till it gains the perfect day. Then will 
the sons of ignorance and bigotry fly with dismay, when the Lord 
shall scatter the one with the breath of his mouth, and eclipse the 
other in the brightness of his coming. 

Fox's letter at the end of your Apology is really an excellent one. 
I have translated it, to gratify a friend; and have been urged 
to publish it for general entertainment in some paper or magazine, 

I beg leave to ask you one question, — Was you the author of a 
paper in the Theological Repository, signed Socrates Scholasticus ? 
I think I trace Mr. Lindsey in it. Barnuensis is the very person 
who is now writing to you ; and it would not in the least lessen 
my esteem and love of you, if I was sure that you had opposed me. 
In one respect I merited correction ; though in another respect it 
was doing me too much honour. Let this plead for my pertness. 
1 was scarcely two-and-twenty when I writ that paper, and did it 
in a hurry, urged on by the warm solicitations of bigotry. 



APPENDIX. 



345 



I suppose you are acquainted with that worthy man Dr. Priestley. 
I am happy in his friendship, and owe much to his writings. I 
love every good man with the most sincere affection ; and in 
proportion as he is distinguished for the noble qualities of dis- 
interested zeal and sincerity* so proportionably do I value and 
esteem him, as the highest character that earth can oe blessed 
with. On these principles, 

I am, dear Sir, 
Your most affectionate brother and friend, 

S. Badcock. 

To the Rev. Theoph. Lindsey. 



No. VI. 

Extracts of Letters from the late Thomas Hollis, Esq., under the 
title of Pierce D elver, to the Rev. T. Lindsey. 

As I think to be well informed, Mrs. Macaulay has lately sold 
to Messrs. Dilly, booksellers, in the Poultry, the power of making 
an octavo edition of her works, she reserving her right afterward 
in those works for 900/. ! Also, the right of every future volume 
which she shall write, for one thousand pounds each volume ! 

It seems this lady thinks there will be three more volumes to 
the elevation of the House of Hanover. When those are written, 
she purposes to write the History of the Tudors. And then, to 
place a large Introduction before her History, which shall begin 
with the earliest account of Britain, and stride down to her History 
of the Tudors. 

The bargain seems to be a good one on her part. But, to me, 
it would be a sad case to write of liberty, magnanimity, at a price, 
and against a reason, at any price ! 

It seems for some time past, when only three volumes of her 
History were published, Mrs. M. wanted Mr. Cadell to buy the 
copyright of them, &c. ; but he chose not to meddle w r ith her His- 
tory in so imperfect, uncertain a state. 

On the present occasion she has not said one word to him, though 
always in every shape most respectful toward her and vigilant to 
promote her interests. Mr. C. is rather concerned at her behaviour ; 



346 



APPENDIX. 



and tells me that he should have been glad to have taken share in 
the octavo edition, but not in the agreement for the future un- 
begotten volumes at any rate. 

The other day I paid her a visit at her house in Berners Street, 
Oxford Road, on a particular occasion, by desire. That house, a 
new one, she has bought, and furnished handsomely. She had 
the air of a princess, out-Cornelised the Cornelisians, and had the 
frank Bath air upon her countenance. 

It seems she keeps two servants in laced liveries, treats cleverly 
and elegantly, and in short, author or fine lady, surpasses all her 
sex. 

All this in confidence, for I respect her exceedingly, and she is 
to be maintained in much just commendation for her many extra- 
ordinary qualities and the cause sake. 

I am, with great esteem, dear Sir, 
Your affectionate friend and most obedient servant, 

Pierce Delver. 



FROM THE SAME. 

The writer, considering the uncertainty and accidents of life, is 
desirous of sending a copy of a curious letter written to him by 
a worthy person, August 3, 1767. 

" Thomas Secker was born about the year 1693 or 4, son of 
a reputable shopkeeper in Chesterfield, in Derbyshire. His sister 
married Sam. Wildbore, of Brewhouse-yard, near Nottingham, a 
Protestant Dissenter, and by trade a dyer. His brother George 
was put to the Coventry business, where he lived many years, a 
professed Protestant Dissenter ; aud, for aught I know, may yet 
live; though the ABP has one of his sons in the church. 

" Thomas Secker, after he left the Grammar-school, I think 
went to the Academy at Attercliff, and, however this, he finished 
at Sam. Jones's Academy in Tewksbury. There it was he wrote 
some letters in the controversy between Dr. S. Clarke and Leibnitz, 
on Liberty and Necessity, which gained him the Doctor's favour. 

u After this, he was some time with his sister aforesaid, in Brew- 
house-yard, where he constantly attended the worship of the Pro- 
testant Dissenting church, under the pastoral care of the Rev. Mr. 
Bateson, with whom he was very familiar. 



APPENDIX, 



347 



" He then went to study physic at Leyden ; and then took the 
degree of M.D, 

"Becoming acquainted with one of the sons of Dr. Talbot, 
Bishop of Durham, he travelled with him; when great affection for 
T.S. led the son to recommend him so strongly to the patronage of 
the Bishop, that he gave him expectation of providing for him in 
the church : whereupon he went to Oxford, studied there some 
time, and would have exchanged his diploma of M.D. for that of 
D.D., but could not obtain any higher than LL.D., which is his- 
signature to this day. 

" Bishop Talbot gave him a rich prebend in the Durham 
cathedral, and also soon a great living. He married a lady in the 
Talbot family, as was thought by some in gratitude. Chancellor 
Talbot was his friend ; and he thus had the ladder of preferment 
made easy to him." 



No. VII. 

Letters from the Rev. W. Hopkins. 

Cuckfield, March 29, 1784. 

Dear Sir, 

I have lately perused your Historical View of the State of the 
Unitarian Doctrine and Worship, and take an early opportunity to 
express my grateful thanks for this useful and entertaining history. 
But before I proceed to take any notice of the contents of it, I 
cannot help sending my sincere congratulation upon the victory 
you and Mrs. Lindsey have gained over one of the greatest temp- 
tations of human life, and have set a noble example of Christian 
fortitude, even in these times. You have laid a glorious founda- 
tion for the establishment of genuine Christianity amongst all 
Protestants, which of course will prove an excellent means to 
demolish the gross corruptions of Popery, which derive some sup- 
port from the flagrant errors yet remaining in Protestant churches. 
In your Historical View I meet with many curious anecdotes with 
which I was unacquainted ; though, several years ago, I was 
engaged in a scheme something resembling the Historical View, 
but was interrupted after some little progress made in it. I was 
very much surprised to find that the eminent Dr. Doddridge 
should contend for that very absurd notion of Christ's being pos- 



348 



APPENDIX. 



sessed of two natures ; but the vast convenience of being provided 
with a solution, well accommodated to reconcile the most palpable 
contradictions, had too much influence upon his mind. Philpot's 
case affords a striking instance of a cruel persecuting temper, at 
the very time he was suffering himself for his religious principles. 
The cause of Christianity was at first supported and propagated 
by fair and open professions, though frequently attended with 
terrible evils. But it is to be lamented that, during the corrupt 
state of the apostate church, many nice arts have been employed 
to palliate established forms, and hinder the progress of the plain 
simplicity of the gospel of Christ. Your strictures upon those 
great and good men, Sir Isaac Newton, Dr. Clarke, and Bishop 
Hoadly, are, I think, very just. What persecution could the 
bigots have inflicted upon such persons, since this family came to 
the throne, if they had taken very bold steps in maintaining the 
cause they certainly had at heart ? It may perhaps appear not 
impertinent to take notice of a conversation that passed many 
years ago, when I was very young, at a worthy clergyman's house, 
who had been preferred by Bishop Hoadly, and likewise was inti- 
mate with Dr. Clarke. The clergyman was speaking in a soft 
and cautious way of his friend Dr. Clarke, and observed that he 
could not make it do very well : in other plainer terms, it was 
difficult to make the Athanasian Creed consistent with subscrip- 
tion. But the Doctor, he said, could say as much for a bad cause 
as any one. This declaration made a strong and lasting impression 
upon my mind. It only shows that the Doctor was an able 
pleader, and at the same time the cause was bad : and indeed I 
found, by dear-bought experience, that it proved a bad cause to 
me. The learned Mr. Wasse, of whom you make mention, gave 
a noble example to the members of Oxford and Cambridge, by his 
open professions and declaration of holding a debate with Dr. 
Potter, late Archbishop of Canterbury, at that time Begius Pro- 
fessor of Divinity at Oxford. I have been always of opinion that 
the method proposed by Mr. Wasse was an excellent one, and am 
really concerned that this plan has never been imitated and 
reduced to practice. Of what use are theological debates, as com- 
monly held by the Professors of Oxford and Cambridge, when the 
disputants are tied down to determine the questions proposed by 
established standards of orthodoxy ? I cannot help my hearty 
approbation of your inserting Archbishop Herring's letter to Dr. 
Jortin : I am of opinion that this letter will be of service to the 



APPENDIX. 



349 



cause. I have the satisfaction to find in the list of your worthies, 
names which I never heard of before : viz. Mr. Maty, Mr. Harries, 
and Mr. Ross of Scotland. May the number of such worthy 
persons perpetually increase ? My own story relative to the cause 
is not worth relating, and I pass it off in silence. But I would 
just remind you, that you have omitted some Unitarians worthy of 
notice, viz. Gilbert Gierke, fellow of a college in Cambridge before 
the Restoration. As the statutes obliged him to go into orders by 
a particular time, he made it his choice to resign his fellowship, 
and all pretensions to church preferment. The great Mr. Locke, 
the Rev. Mr. Tomkins, the Rev. Mr. Gibbs, two dissenting 
ministers who were ejected from their congregations upon account 
of their Unitarian principles. 

Unitarians, as they are uniformly agreed in the grand points of 
the question, should carefully avoid disagreeable altercations upon 
their lesser differences. Upon a review, the whole of what I now 
maintain is no more than this, that the direct invocation of Christ 
is lawful upon some occasions, and that I cannot protest against 
the lawfulness of it, as I have openly done against the third and 
seventh petitions of the Litany, and all passages of a similar 
nature. It is now high time that I should make my sincere acknow- 
ledgements to you and Dr. Disney for the trouble you have given 
yourselves about my translation, which I find is done in an hand- 
some manner. I heartily wish all possible success to your ministry 
at the chapel in Essex Street, and likewise to the Society ; and 
am, dear Sir, with my respectful compliments to Dr. and Mrs. 
Disney, to Dr. and Mrs. Jebb, and Mrs. Lindsey, 

Your much obliged friend, 

W. Hopkins. 

P.S. Unless my memory deceive me, for I am not in possession 
of the tracts, Dr. Price and Dr. Priestley had a friendly debate upon 
liberty and necessity. I profess myself strongly attached to the 
cause of moral liberty in the strictest sense, in opposition to neces- 
sity of every kind, whether arising from external or internal 
causes. If 1 remember right, Dr. Price maintained his point, 
viz., liberty, in an able and rational way; but when he came to 
the grand difficulty, which has perplexed the best writers upon 
the subject, viz., how to reconcile prescience with liberty, he 
seemed distressed. It has generally been taken for granted on 
both sides, that divine prescience must be admitted as a truth. 
But really I entertain very great doubts, occasioned by a careful 



350 



APPENDIX. 



perusal of a chapter in Crellius's De Sapientia Dei, which does not 
seem to have engaged the attention of the learned so much as it 
deserves. A rational and sensible person was going to^ write upon 
this subject, to whom I recommended this chapter of Crellius • 
but as he was unacquainted with the learned languages, I engaged 
to translate part of the chapter. If Dr. Price has never seen 
this chapter, and Crellius's works have not fallen in his way, I 
should esteem it as a favour if you would present my respects to 
him, and beg of him to accept of this translation, if not disagree- 
able, which possibly may tend to illustrate a subject he has fre- 
quently considered. The person for whom it was originally in- 
tended has been dead some time. If the Doctor be in possession 
of Crellius's works, I must ask his pardon for this impertinence, 
as I am sensible he understands the language much better than 
the translator. 'Tis proper to add that I did not translate the 
whole chapter. 

FROM THE SAME. 

Guckfield, April 29, 1784. 

Dear Sir, 

Last week your extraordinary favour came to hand, and I think 
myself obliged to take an early opportunity to acknowledge with 
gratitude the kind and friendly manner with which you treat me. 
I thought it not improper to take notice of some names omitted 
in your very useful work, and am really surprised that the learned 
Mr. Peirce should escape my observation, of whom I had conceived 
an high opinion, and some of whose excellent works I have in my 
possession. With respect to Mr. Gilbert Clerke, I can communi- 
cate no other particulars than what you may find in Mr. Nelson's 
Life of Bishop Bull (pag. 497, 499, 502, 508—513). He seems 
to have given an impartial account of the Life and Character of 
Mr. Gilbert Clerke; but what was naturally to be expected, he 
speaks slightingly of his performances, in part of which he pre- 
sumed to differ from the celebrated Defender of the Nicene Faith. 
The Bishop, as you rightly observe, treats poor Mr. Clerke in an 
indecent manner, more especially as Mr. Nelson himself has given 
him a good character ; I call him poor, for in one part of his life 
he ran the hazard, for the sake of conscience, of wanting the 
common necessaries of life. As I have the tract of Mr. Clerke, 
upon which Bishop Bull made animadversions, I compared them 
together many years ago, and I find this observation in a vacant 



APPENDIX. 



351 



space before the title page, " The famous Bull wrote animadversions 
upon this treatise, but he has left many arguments without the 
least appearance of an answer, which strongly support the Unit- 
arian cause ; this cause indeed is founded upon such powerful 
evidence as cannot be overthrown by the wit of man." I am 
inclined to judge that Bull saw something which he could not 
answer, and this raised his indignation. I entirely agree with 
Mr. Clerke, that Bull, in the last section of his Defence, relative 
to the subordination, had yielded great part of the question np to 
the Unitarians, or, rather, had given it quite up. Subordination, 
in any sense, absolutely demolishes the Athanasian system. All 
that appears of Mr. Philip Gibbs is, that as he had been bred up 
in the Calvin istic plan, upon a more exact examination of Scripture, 
and the study of the best authors, he became an Unitarian, and 
gave up predestination, original sin, &c. In consequence of his 
conviction, he addressed a letter to his congregation, wherein he 
openly and fairly delivered his sentiments : upon which they 
desired him to withdraw peaceably from their communion. He 
was afterward taken into partnership with a considerable trades- 
man, and died within a few years in that station. 

Be pleased to return my best respects to Dr. Price, for taking 
in good part what I thought might prove useful to his design. 
But I find a disinclination in many learned persons to give up 
the divine prescience. Crellius, I really think, has argued the 
point with sagacity and deep penetration, and has stated the case 
in such a guarded manner as not to break in upon omniscience 
itself, when understood in a perfectly rational sense; and has 
likewise made it consistent with prophecies delivered in the Old 
and New Testament. I did not translate the w 7 hole chapter, but 
am of opinion that the whole deserves the careful perusal of curious 
Berseans. I perused several years ago with peculiar satisfaction 
Dr. Price's Review of the principal Questions and Difficulties of 
Morals, and likewise his four Dissertations. I objected only to 
one sentence in his dissertation on Providence, wdiich it is not 
necessary to mention, as it has been taken notice of by others; 
and the Doctor, I dare say, can guess at my meaning. I gave 
my hearty assent to his Political Treatise, published at a season- 
able time, well calculated to answer those purposes the worthy 
author had in view, and which, I believe, have been eventually 
answered. 1 sincerely wish him joy of his success. Upon the 
whole J ought to acknowledge with gratitude that I have received 



852 



APPENDIX. 



considerable improvement and much rational pleasure from the 
excellent writings of Dr. Price, which have engaged my attention, 
but am not qualified to form a proper judgment of that part of 
them which are taken up in curious and nice calculations, as being 
deficient in that branch of science. I must beg the favour of you 
to express my particular satisfaction to Dr. Priestley for the very 
candid observations he has made on our difference of sentiments, 
which shews a disposition to promote peace and harmony among 
Christians, and possibly an uniform agreement in some grand and 
essential points through the whole Christian world. If Dr. 
Priestley judges that there is no real difference betwixt him and 
Dr. Price, the same thing may be said of myself, as, unless I am 
mistaken, we are very nearly of the same sentiments. I certainly 
have expressed myself in a way different from that of Dr. Priestley, 
with regard to some opinions he has published, and at the same 
time have esteemed him for several of his practical treatises, which 
have fallen in my way. I sincerely believe that he is well disposed 
to promote the cause of natural and revealed religion, which plainly 
appears from his tracts on that subject, and which I had an op- 
portunity of reading some time ago with satisfaction. I am a 
stranger to his philosophical discoveries and disquisitions, as 
having never acquired anything farther than a superficial know- 
ledge of that science, which he has so happily cultivated and 
improved. 1 heartily wish him success in all his commendable 
undertakings : philosophy, when in the hands of a truly religious 
and ingenious person, has a natural tendency to display the glory 
of the One Supreme God and Father of all. You guess right 
about the book relative to the controversy of necessity betwixt 
Dr. Price and Dr. Priestley, it not being in my possession, and so 
should be glad to accept of your kind offer. With respect to 
Dr. Priestley's present undertaking, by that little acquaintance I 
had formerly with the primitive fathers, I am induced to believe 
that the Doctor will be able to prove his point to the satisfaction 
of unprejudiced inquirers. 

It gives me peculiar satisfaction, that anything I have done relat- 
ing to the book of Exodus has your approbation ; only I would 
observe that your candid opinion of the author has prevailed upon 
you to pass a too favourable sentence. I thought it right to speak 
my mind freely of Dr. Kennicott's short attempt to please the re- 
puted orthodox, and presume he could not have taken it amiss, if 
he had been alive. You are so very obliging as to think of men- 



APPENDIX. 



353 



tioning my name among the worthies, if your very useful work 
should come to a second edition, which I heartily wish it may for 
the public good ; but I make this request, that, if upon a review 
you should judge it improper in any respect to mention my name, 
you would suppress it. I am very much concerned to hear of Dr. 
Jebb's precarious state of health ; but you express some hopes that 
he may get the better of it, which I sincerely wish may prove the 
case. You tell me great news concerning the Bishops : surely a 
review will be attempted at last, and possibly I may have the 
pleasure of seeing something actually done in the glorious cause 
before I die, though far advanced in years. 

I am, dear Sir, with my kind respects to Mrs. Lindsey, Dr. and 
Mrs. Disney, Dr. and Mrs. J ebb, 

Your very affectionate friend, and deeply obliged humble servant, 

W. Hopkins. 



FROM THE SAME, AND MARKED BY MR. LINDSEY, " THE EXCEL- 
LENT MR. HOPKINS'S LAST LETTER." 

Cuckfield, December 17, 1785. 

Dear good Sir, 

T hope to be able to send you some sort of answer to your very 
kind and Christian letter, which I received the last post. 

\Yith respect to ray scruples relating to church matters, they are 
entirely removed by your determination. Your solicitous concern 
for my welfare is very engaging, and which you have plainly shown 
by procuring for me a very handsome present from a worthy 
member of the Society. I accept of it with grateful thanks, as my 
imprudent son has very much wasted my substance by his vicious 
extravagance ; but still I am provided with a decent support by 
proper management. I will take care to employ a person some 
day next week to call at your house for the generous gift. And as 
you think my name may be something in the Society book, though 
a poor something, I revoke my design of having it struck out, and 
refer the time of my little payment to you and the Society. 

I cannot conclude without taking notice that your charity in- 
duces you to entertain a more favourable opinion than I really 
deserve ; neither ought I to put myself upon a footing with such- 
worthy persons as yourself, who have maintained an unblemished 

A A 



354 



APPENDIX. 



character all their lives ; that of a poor humble penitent is all that 
I can justly claim. 

May the One Supreme God and Father of all give a blessing 
and success to all your sincere endeavours to promote the cause of 
his true religion, and likewise those of your worthy associates ! 
and may all possible success attend the Christian Society which 
you have formed for the same excellent purpose ! which is the 
earnest prayer of, good Sir, 

Your highly obliged friend, and humble servant, 

W. Hopkins. 



No. IX. 

P. Courayer to the Rev. T. Lindsey. 

A Percy Lodge, ce 29 Septembre, 1875. 

Dear Mr. Lindsey,* 

Je suis charme que votre progres dans la langue Francoise 
vous rende ma recommandation inutile. Car par vous meme 
vous saurez assez vous recommander a ceux avec qui vous ferez 
connoissance. La science et la bonne conduite sont un excellent 
passe-par-tout aupres de tons les honnetes gens. 

Quoi que je ne puisse convenir avec Mr. de St. Perne que ma 
retraite ait ete une perte pour personne, je suis persuade, comme 
lui, que si j^etois reste en France je n'y aurois pu demeu^er sans 
m'exposer a de grandes difficultez et a quelques dangers ; et 
quelque mortification que j'aye eu a souffrir en quittant une 
societie et un pais ou je vivois avec agrement et satisfaction, je 
ne me repens point de cette demarche, qui m'a dedommage de 
ce que j'ai perdu par les avantages que j'ai retrouvez ici, et qui 
a mis ma conscience a couvert des troubles et des tentations aux 
quelles elle auroit ete exposee en demeurant dans ma patrie. 

Rien n'est plus triste, comme vous Pobservez, que de voir 
les hommes se persecuter pour des opinions sur des points ob- 
scurs, dont la decision est aussi incertaine que le sont les points 
memes en question, et qui d'ailleurs n'ont que tres peu d'influ- 
ence sur les mceurs et la conduite des hommes. Mais on veut 

* So in the original. 



APPENDIX. 



355 



dominer sur la foi des autres ; et la meme ambition qui porte les 
princes a etendre leurs domaines, engage les theologiens a vou- 
loir faire regner leurs opinions. C 5 est un mal aussi ancien que 
le rnonde, et il y a long terns que, comnie l'a dit un ancien, 
Phomme se comporte en bete feroce a Pegard des autres : homo 
homini lupus. Que faire pour remedier a ce mal ? En genii r 
devant Dieu lui clemander la grace de changer le cceur des hom- 
ines, et de les ramener a des sentimens plus eclairez, censurer 
cet esprit de domination quand Poccasion se presente de le faire 
avec utilite, et si on ne pent reformer les autres, s'eloigner soi 
meme d'une pareille disposition, et laisser la liberte a chacun de 
suivre ses propres lumieres en conservant Fesprit d'union et de 
charite qui fait proprement Pessence de la religion. 

La demande que vous me faites est si vague que je ne saurois 
pour cette fois y repondre. Vous me priez de vous faire con- 
noitre quelques petits traitez que vous puissiez vous procurer. 
Je ne sais ce que vous entendez par la. Sont-ce des traites de 
piete, ou de controverse, ou de belles lettres ? Sont-ce ou des 
ouvrages de morale ou des sermons, ou simplement des ouvrages 
d'esprit ? Pardonnez moi de ne rien repondre a une demande 
qui est trop generate pour que je puisse y satisfaire. 

tPai pris part comme toute la France a la naissance du Due 
de Bourgogne. Je crois meme que e'est un bien pour toute 
FEurope, qu'un defaut de succession pourroit rengager dans une 
guerre generale. Mon exil ne me rend point insensible aux 
avantages de ma patrie. Mais comme ce n'est pas tout d'avoir 
un prince a moms qu'il ne soit bon, mes vceux presentement se 
bornent a en soahaiter un qui fasse le bonheur de son royaume, 
et qui rende ses peuples aussi heureux que sa naissance leur 
donne de satisfaction. 

Apres quatre mois de sejour a Percy Lodge, je nFen retourne 
cette semaine a Londres. J^ai la satisfaction de laisser la Du- 
chesse en assez bonne sante. Je lui en souhaite la continuation, 
d'autant plus que d'elle, depend le support et la subsistence de 
bien des pauvres aux besoins desquels sa charite fournit. 

Je ne sais si je dois vous faire mes complimens sur les benefices 
que My Lord Northumberland vous offre. Le plus considerable 
n'est qu'un depot, que je ne regarde pas trop comme legitime, 
et que nous regardons en France comme une sorte de simonie. 
L'autre ne vous donne qu'une simple subsistance, et vous nVavez 
souvent avoue que vous ne vous contenteriez pas d'une cure qui 

a a 2 



356 



APPENDIX. 



ne vous dorm at pas de quoi fournir aux pauvres dont vous seriez 
charge, Ainsi fattens que vous ayez pris votres resolution pour 
savoir si je dois vous en feliciter. 

Mr. Cowslad vous fait ses complimens, quoi qu'il soit en 
colere que vous ne lui ayez pas envoye la recette de la creme 
de Blois qu'il vous avoit demandee. Mes tendres amities a Mr. 
de St. Perne, et mes complimens a My Lord Warkworth, a qui je 
souhaite la continuation de sa sante. 

Comme je suppose que la Duchesse vous mande les nouvelles 
courantes, je ne me charge point de ce detail. II n'est question 
pour moi que de m'entretenir dans votre souvenir, et de vous 
demander la continuation de votre amitie. Personne ne la 
merite mieux, s^il suffit pour la meriter d'avoir pour vous autant 
d'estime et d'attachement que j'en ai. II ne tiendra qu'a vous 
de me fournir quelque occasion de vous en donner pes preuves, 
et de vous convaincre que personne n^est plus sincerement, 
Mon cher ami, 

Votre tres humble et tres obeissant serviteur, 
P. fr. Le Courayer. 

A Monsieur Lindsey. 



No. X. 

From William Wells, Esq., of Boston, in New England, to 
the Author. 

Boston, March 21, 1812. 

My dear Sir, 

I am glad to hear you received the sermons safe. About six 
weeks ago I forwarded to Mr. Freme a parcel for you, containing 
the first No. of " The General Repository and Review." For this 
you are indebted to Mr. B. I think a letter from him accom- 
panied the Review, but am not sure, as I took no memorandum 
of the contents of the parcel. A second number will shortly 
appear, which shall be forwarded by the earliest opportunity. I 
believe I mentioned in my last the name of the editor, Mr. Norton, 



APPENDIX. 



357 



an excellent young man. Of his abilities you will be able to 
judge. I think the first article, and the review of the Horsleian 
and Priestleian controversy display a soundness of judgment which 
at his age is rare. A number of young men who have taken their 
bachelor's degree now reside at Cambridge as theological students. 
Several of them are the sons of men of fortune, some, as far as I 
can judge, of superior talents ; and all are pursuing their pro- 
fessional studies with a zeal which is well directed by the very 
worthy and learned Dr. Ware, professor of divinity, and Dr. 
Kirkland, the president, and an honesty which is entirely un- 
fettered and unbiassed by any system whatever. We have to 
contend here, as you in England, for the first principles of Pro- 
testantism, but I see no reason to fear that the ensuing generation 
will be destitute of able champions for the right of private 
judgment. 

With regard to the progress of Unitarianism, I have but little 
to say. Its tenets have spread very extensively in New England, 
but I believe there is only one church professedly Unitarian. The 
churches at Portland and Saco, of which you speak, hardly ever 
saw the light, and exist no longer. The Mr. Thacher who was 
formerly a member of Congress, and the Judge T. whom Mr. 
Merrick mentions, are the same. He is one of the Judges of our 
Supreme Court, an excellent man and most zealous Unitarian. 
He is now on the circuit in this town, and tells me he is obliged 
on Sunday to stay at home or to hear a Calvinistic minister. He 
is no relation to our friend. 

Most of our Boston clergy and respectable laymen (of whom we 
have many enlightened theologians) are Unitarian. Nor do they 
think it at all necessary to conceal their sentiments upon these 
subjects, but express them without the least hesitation when they 
judge it proper. I may safely say, the general habit of thinking 
and speaking upon this question in Boston is Unitarian. At the 
same time the controversy is seldom or never introduced into the 
pulpit. I except the Chapel church. If publications make their 
appearance attacking Unitarian sentiments, they are commonly 
answered with spirit and ability ; but the majority of those who 
are Unitarian are perhaps of these sentiments, without any distinct 
consciousness of being so. Like the first Christians, finding no 
sentiments but those in the N. T., and not accustomed to hear the 
language of the N. T. strained and warped by theological system- 
makers, they adopt naturally a just mode of thinking. 



858 



APPENDIX. 



This state of things appears to me so favourable to the dis- 
semination of correct sentiments, that I should perhaps regret a 
great degree of excitement in the public mind upon these subjects. 
The majority would eventually be against us. The ignorant, the 
violent, the ambitious, and the cunning, would carry the multitude 
with them in religion as they do in politics. One Dr. M., in a 
contest for spreading his own sentiments among the great body of 
the people, would, at least for a time, beat ten Priestleys. Not to 
dwell upon the consideration that Unitarianism consists rather in 
not believing ; and that it is more easy to gain proselytes to absurd 
opinions, than to make men zealous in refusing to believe. With 
what arms, when the o\ ttoWol are the judges, can virtue and learn- 
ing contend with craft and cunning and equivocation and false- 
hood and intolerant zeal ? Learning is worse than useless, virtue 
is often diffident of her own conclusions, and, at any rate, more 
anxious to render men good Christians than to make them 
Christians of her own denomination ; and that self-respect, which 
is the companion of virtue, disdains to meet the low cunning of 
her adversaries, or to flatter the low prejudices of her judges. I 
think then it must be assumed as an axiom, that a persevering 
controversy upon this question would render the multitude bigoted 
and persecuting Calvinists. Then come systems and catechisms 
in abundance. Every conceited deacon, every parishioner who 
has, or thinks he has, a smattering in theology, becomes the 
inquisitor of his pastor. In such circumstances learning and good 
sense have no chance. They cannot even be heard. 

The violent party here have chosen to meet their opponents 
upon very unfavourable ground. Instead of making it a cause of 
orthodoxy against heresy, they have very unwisely preferred to 
insist upon a subscription to articles of faith. This has given great 
offence to many who are disposed to be in favour of their creed, 
and thrown them into the opposite scale. Dr. Osgood is really 
orthodox in sentiment, but a noble and determined supporter of the 
right of private judgement, and on the best possible terms with 
our Boston friends. This is also the case with the venerable Dr. 
Lathrop, of West Springfield, Mr. Palmer's friend, and many 
others. In short, we are now contending for the liberty of being 
Protestants. If we can persuade the people (and we stand upon 
advantageous ground) that we have a right to think upon religious 
subjects as our consciences and the Scriptures direct, things will 
go on very well. Learning, good sense, and virtue will then 



APPENDIX. 



359 



produce their natural effects ; and just modes of thinking upon 
subjects of this nature, as upon all others, will necessarily prevail. 

TTill you, ray dear Sir, excuse my unintentional prolixity ? I 
do not know that you will approve my sentiments, nor am I verj 
confident of their justness ; but I have seen the contest between 
truth and falsehood, before the multitude; between everything 
which is respectable and everything which is detestable, so unequal 
in politics, that I dread the event in matters of religion. Still I 
would be no advocate for timidity, much less for anything like 
equivocation or evasion; and it must be confessed that prudence 
often degenerates into these vices. 

I remain, dear Sir, with the greatest esteem, 

Yours affectionately, 

W. Wells, Jun. 

To the Rev. Thomas Belsham. 



No. XI. 

From the Rev. Thomas Fyshe Palmer to Mr. Lindsey, giving 
some account of his treatment on board the Surprise transport. 

N. S. Wales, Sydney, Sept. 15, 1795. 

My dear Sir, 

It was with inexpressible pleasure that I again saw your hand- 
writing ; receiving your letter and parcel of books safe, for which 
I am much obliged to you. I long to read with attention the 
Commentary on the Revelation, which I believe will nearly (from 
a hasty glimpse of it) meet my own ideas. I am happy to find 
that my edition of Elwall is in the hands of a person who will 
give them away ; it was printed for that very purpose, nor must 
I allow your kind partiality to frustrate it. 

I must begin with telling you that we have all enjoyed unin- 
terrupted health, excepting that, landing with weak eyes and using 
them very much at the time, the common malady of the climate 
has ever since grievously affected them, so that I have been 
obliged to give over reading and writing. But they are now con- 
siderably better. 

By this time you will, I imagine, have received the dismal nar- 



860 



APPENDIX. 



rative of my sufferings on board the Surprise ; the master of which 
accused me and Mr. Skirving of hiring people to murder him and 
the principal officers. He pitched on some unhappy people as 
our associates, and what he made them and us endure is hardly 
to be credited. It must have been more than human help which 
supported me. One week of it at any other time would have des- 
patched me. In the torrid zone when I could not bear the cover- 
ing of my shirt, Mr. Skirving and T were shut up in a box six 
feet square, and not suffered to pass the threshold. At night, as 
a vast indulgence, we were separated, and I laid in a bed not merely 
wet but soaked through with salt water and rain, which my tyrant 
would not permit me or my friends to dry. The pretended asso- 
ciates were much worse treated ; every cruelty and every artifice 
were employed to make them accuse us. They were flogged, and 
illegally reduced to half allowance. They were loaded with sixty 
pounds' weight of irons, and all chained to an iron bar and exposed 
on the poop all weather, in that dreadful temperature. When I 
landed, six or seven people went voluntarily to a magistrate, and 
swore that C. offered them great rewards if they would swear that 
I and Mr. Skirving hired them to murder him and the principal 
officers, that he held a pistol in his hand and threatened to shoot 
some if they did not, and to treat them as we traitors were. The 
whole of this I have entrusted to Mr. White, principal surgeon of 
the settlement, who went home in the Dsedalus in December last. 
I believe I should have fallen before my inhuman tyrant, had it 
not been for the courageous and active friendship of James Ellis 
and Mr. Boston, the young man I wrote to you about, and his 
wife. They were threatened with irons, even Mrs. Boston ; and 
when Mr. Boston landed, C. blasted all his prospects by accusing 

him of Jacobinism and drinking destruction to the K- . This 

last was proved to be an infamous falsehood. They gave another 
signal proof of their friendship. Somehow or other their know- 
ledge of the arts was spread abroad at Bio de Janeiro, and the 
Viceroy paid them every attention, kept a splendid table for them, 
had a man of rank to attend them, set them to work, and, when 
convinced of their ability, offered them any sum to set up in busi- 
ness, and £300 per annum each to settle at Rio. They firmly 
rejected the offer (though both were without a shilling), and every 
solicitation made use of for their compliance, as it was their firm 
belief that C. would have murdered me in their absence. After 
such kindness it followed of course that we lived together, and 



APPENDIX, 



361 



that they shared what I had. It was fortunate for them that I 
had something left from the plunder of C. and his crew. The 
destructive and oppressive monopoly of the military officers forbad 
everyone to purchase of the ships that came to this harbour. The 
military officers alone bought, and resold to all the colony at 1,000 
per cent, profit, and often more. They firmly, but in guarded 
language, insisted on the rights of British subjects to carry on 
any trade, not prohibited, in one of His Majesty's harbours. 
This irritated the whole governing despotic pow T er of the settle- 
ment against them. They w 7 ere refused a grant, servants, and 
never employed, though, by making salt and curing fish, they could 
have saved the colony from a famine. Where everything is so 
immensely dear, you may guess that it has laid heavy on me ; but 
my money could not have been so well employed. The worst is 
over. They manufacture beer, vinegar, salt, soap, &c, for sale. 
I have a farm. But, above all, Governor Hunter, who is, I hear 
from all hands, a good man, and their friend, has arrived, and 
the despotism and infamous monopolies of the last government are 
no more. 

The clergyman here, Mr. Johnson, is a most dutiful son of the 
Church of England, thinking it to be the best constituted church 
in the world. He is a Moravian Methodist, and was bred, 1 believe, 
at Magdalen, Cambridge. I believe him to be a very good, pious, 
inoffensive man. None of our household ever have heard bin., 
though I confess I could have heard him yesterday with pleasure. 
It was the first Sunday after Governor Hunter's arrival. He ex- 
posed the last government, their extortion, their despotism, their 
debauchery and ruin of the colony, driving it almost to famine by 
the sale of liquors at 1,200 per cent, profit. He congratulated the 
colony at the abolition of a military government, and the restora- 
tion of a civil one, and of the law r s. Orders are this day, Tuesday, 
given out that no officer shall sell any more liquor. 

I rejoice to hear of the safety, the care, and the reception of Dr. 
Priestley, and the door of usefulness opened to him in America. 

I have sealed up my letter to Mr. Rutt. I must therefore desire 
you to get our mutual friend Dyer to tell him that I have re- 
ceived his letter of June 23rd, and the parcel of newspapers and 
pamphlets, and especially the highly interesting (to us) Reports of 
the Secret Committee, sent to the care of Mr. Johnson. He must 
tell him that I am overwhelmed with his goodness, and only fear 
that I shall not show myself sufficiently deserving of it. He must 



382 



APPENDIX. 



know that Mr. Muir lives with me, and that he, Skirving, and I 
live in great cordiality • our houses at Sydney are contiguous, as 
also our farms in the country. 

I have written by every conveyance, and by the last to Dr. 
Disney, to whom and Mrs. Disney I must beg to be particularly 
remembered. Mrs. Lindsey will accept of my best regard ; her 
spectacles often recall her to my mind. 

Farewell, dear Sir. I hope it is reserved for me to see you again 
in this state ; and I earnestly pray never to be separated from you 
in the next. 

I am your affectionate and obliged 

Thos. Fyshe Palmer. 

To the Rev. Mr. Lindsey, 

Essex Street, London. 



No. XII. 

Select Extracts from the Letters of Dr. Priestley to Mr. Lindsey, 
and from Thomas Jefferson, Esq., President of the United 
States, to Dr. Priestley. 

FROM DR. PRIESTLEY. 

Birmingham, Aug. 26, 1789. 
The Archdeacon had indeed an euthanasia, and I find his friend 
the Bishop of Carlisle died about the same time, and at about the 
same age. They have been useful men in their day, and you justly 
observe none are without their failings, and least of all great minds. 
This I see confirmed, and I am sorry to see it so much so, in 
Beausobre's History of the Reformation, which I have read through 
with peculiar satisfaction. Luther had great defects indeed, and 
of a very disagreeable kind ; especially envy, and dislike of other 
reformers. He wished all to follow him, and was angry if they 
went one step farther. His behaviour to Carlostadt and Zuinglius, 
&c, is inexcusable. But he had great and good qualities notwith- 
standing, and would, I doubt not, have been an intrepid martyr. 
Beausobre is far more satisfactory than Sleidan, but I am sorry that 



APPENDIX, 



363 



he goes no farther than the year 1530. He certainly meant to 
have written more. The last volume is particularly interesting. 

In a letter from Mr. Palmer in Scotland, you will see that he 
corresponds with Mr. Robinson, of Cambridge, as an avowed 
Unitarian. But he ought to make a public declaration after what 
he has written 

FROM THE SAME. 

Birmingham, Oct. 3, 1789. 

At my return I found a letter from Mr. Tayleur, with a bill of 
150 pounds for the expenses of my Ecclesiastical History. I told 
him I apprehended it would be considerably too much, and that I 
should consult with you, and did not doubt we should dispose of 
the overplus to his satisfaction. I send you the letter and bill, 
which I wish you would put into the hands of Mr. Chambers, who, 
as usual, will give a receipt, and allow interest for it. How un- 
boundedly generous Mr. Tayleur is ! I may well afford to give 
my books, when they are paid lor beforehand. Before I took 
my journey, I ordered 25 copies of my History of Early Opinions 
to be sent to you. I am told they were immediately sent by a 
waggon that goes to the Castle and Falcon, Aldersgate Street. 
You say nothing about the parcel, and therefore it has not been 
delivered. I am really desirous of giving a great part of the im- 
pression. I cannot consider them as my property, and only wish 
to place them where they may be of the most use. 

You will be pleased to be informed that at Manchester I met 
with two Unitarian street-preachers, men of good sense and great 
zeal, who had read hardly anything besides the Bible, nothing of 
mine or yours. They are Baptists, and 14 in number; not more 
than two months' standing. One of them had been in Mr. Wesley's 
connection. As they had hired a building for their meetings in 
the winter, and were at expense in travelling to preach in the 
neighbouring towns, &c, I gave them five guineas. They are all 
working men. I was exceedingly pleased with their conversation. 
They told me of another society of the same kind in York of 60 
members ; and others are forming in different places. Young Mr. 
Toulmin was with me, and gave them some of my small pieces; 
and I promised to send them other books. The name of one of 

them was John Laycock, and the other Burton. Two others 

of their friends were also preachers. They spake with great fluency 
and propriety 



364 



APPENDIX. 



FROM THE SAME. 

Birmingham, May 24, 1790. 

I greatly admire Mr. 's spirit and zeal, but I cannot 

approve of his plan. Neither Christianity nor the Reformation 
was carried on in that way, but more silently and naturally, like 
the growth of corn, to which our Saviour compared the former. So 
ostentatious a method of proceeding would engage our opponents 
in similar measures, and excite a spirit of party, which is hostile 
to free inquiry. Besides, the relief of sufferers, publicly held out, 
would draw endless claimants, to whom no satisfaction could be 
given. Assistance in particular and well-known cases may still be 
given, books may be distributed, and lay preachers, who w r ant but 
little money, may be encouraged, without making much noise. 
The very apparatus and correspondence necessary for such a scheme 

as Mr. 's would alone be very expensive, and the same money 

may be much better employed 

FROM THE SAME. 

Birmingham, June 11, 1790. 

Dear Friend, 

We have had a melancholy scene here since I wrote last. Mr 
Robinson, who preached our charity sermon on Sunday last, was 
found dead in his bed on Wednesday morning at Mr. Russell's. 
He was much enfeebled in body and mind, but had been bent on 
taking the journey, and exerting himself to the utmost. His dis- 
order the physicians call angina pectoris. Two nights he was with 
me, and on Monday evening he had a fit, from which I thought 
he would hardly have recovered. However, he was much better 
the next day, when he dined with Mr. Hawkes, and after dinner 
was in remarkably good spirits, and entertained us with many 
stories and anecdotes. He ate a hearty supper, and went to bed 
seemingly in good health ; but it was evident that he had another 
fit soon after he went to bed, and that he expired in it, for he was 
almost cold at nine o' clock the next morning. 

He was by no means fit to preach ; and though he was not at 
a loss for words, he rambled into many things quite foreign to the 
subject, dwelling much on Unitarianism at both meetings, though 
they were different sermons. He used no notes. I have composed 
a sermon on the occasion of his death, which I shall preach next 



APPENDIX. 



365 



Sunday. We expect letters or messengers from Cambridge, but 
expect to bury him here. 

I am very glad that you propose to omit the Creed, and to make 
a discourse on the occasion. Your example will give a sanction to 
the measure everywhere else. Mr. Robinson said he never felt so 
sensible a relief to his mind as when he read what I published on 
the Miraculous Conception. He had always doubted the story, 
bat never ventured to mention his suspicion to anybody. 

He was correcting some of the last sheets of his History of Bap- 
tism, which I dare say will be a curious and valuable work. 

Yours and Mrs. Lindsev's most affectionately, 

J. Priestley. 

FROM THE SAME. 

Birmingham, June 24, 1790. 

Dear Friend, 

You will see by the enclosed that I will not publish the Sermon 
till I hear from the family. I beg therefore that you would take 
back those I sent you, or take the trouble to deliver the altera- 
tions I may have occasion to make in it. 

It is evident that Mr. Robinson, though an Unitarian, did not 
wish to incur the odium of it with all his old friends. 

I want to know how Mr. Dodson goes on with his translation 
of the Prophets. I stick close to my part, and hope to have 
finished all that is essential before you come, at the end of the next 
month, or the middle of it. I do a certain quantity per clay. We 
must make a point of despatching the whole this year. I shall see 
Mr. B., and talk to him about his part. I shall also write to Mr. F., 
and give him any help that he may want. My method is to paste 
paper to the margin of a quarto Bible, and make the alterations 
there. This I think better, on every account, than to write the 
whole, and especially much easier to those who examine it. 

Yours and Mrs. Lindsey's most affectionately, 

J. Priestley. 

FROM THE SAME. 

Birmingham, June 26, 1790, 
I send you with this a few copies of my Sermon for 
Mr. Robinson, to be disposed of as presents to whom you please. 
Do not forget Mr. Radcliffe. None will be sold in London or 



366 



APPENDIX. 



Cambridge till it has been seen by the family, and they allow the 
account given of Mr. Robinson. There can be no doubt of his 
change of sentiment, whether it should appear in his writings or 
not. He had been a cautious man, and forbore to announce his 
change of opinion to his congregation ; but I hope he never 
deceived them. The letter in the preface is Mr. C.'s, his son-in- 
law, the same that called upon you. There was, however, some- 
thing I cannot account for with respect to his former opinion of 
the divinity of Christ, unless he held the indwelling scheme. For 
he said in my hearing, he always thought the doctrine of the 
Trinity an absurdity. On this supposition, however, I cannot 
vindicate his writing that book. I hear he was uncommonly 
eager to read your reply. It was brought by Mr. C. before your 
present of it arrived, and he sat up all night to read it, and was 
much agitated by it. He was also more affected than he ought 
to have been by the reception he met with among his old friends 
after his change of opinion was known. When Mr. Hobson, who 
was an old acquaintance of his, first saw him, he said, " They have 
killed me ; " and he complained to me, that among all his former 
friends in London he had only two subscribers to his book. He 
had no doubt been too fond of popularity, which is too often the 
case with those who have the power of being so. However, his 
well-known change of sentiment cannot fail to have a considerable 
effect. 

FROM THE SAME. 

Birmingham, July 6, 1790. 
Mr. Robinson certainly died a natural death, but not so I 
believe Mr. Silas Deane, Mr. W. Wilkinson says he always 
talked of taking laudanum in extremity, and doubts not but he 
did it. He had the greatest aversion to going to America with 
less honour than he left it ; and though he had nothing to fear, he 
was poor, and would have been overlooked. He had lived a very 
licentious life at Paris : but Mr. Wilkinson says he spent almost 
all he was worth to purchase arms for the Americans, and was 
aiever repaid. 



APPENDIX. 



367 



FROM THE SAME. 

Birmingham, July 22, 1790. 

If you see Mr. Doclson, tell him it will by no means do to 
reprint either Blayney or Bishop Newcome, as we must keep much 
nearer to the phraseology of the present version than they do. We 
must content ourselves with departing from it only for the sake of 
some real improvement. I have now gone once through the 
Psalms and Proverbs, and I will undertake Daniel and the Minor 
Prophets, if he will do Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Or, as I have more 
than six months before me, and I am determined to make this my 
principal business, I can very well do the whole; and if you think 
so, you need not say anything to him ; or tell him that I shall 
undertake it if he has not leisure, or that he may take what he 
pleases, and leave me the rest. I fear some quaintness in his style, 
and we must avoid everything of the kind, as we shall be 
laughed at. 



LETTERS FROM DR. PRIESTLEY TO MR. LINDSEY SOON AFTER HIS 
ARRIVAL IN AMERICA. 

No. I. 

New York, June 15, 1794. 

Dear Friend , 

We have now been here near a fortnight, and I begin to expect 
to hear from you^ which is the greatest satisfaction that I expect 
in this country. But I sometimes think that everything here is 
so promising, and everything with you so threatening, that perhaps 
even you and Mrs. Lindsey may be induced to end your days with 
us. To accomplish thrs, I should at any time come over and fetch 
you. Indeed, the difference between the aspect of things here 
and with you is not to be expressed. I feel as if I were in another 
world. I never before could conceive how satisfactory it is to have 
the feeling I now have from a sense of perfect security and liberty^ 
all men having equal rights and privileges, and speaking and acting 
as if they were sensible of it. Here are no beggars to be seen, 
and families are easily maintained by any kind of labour; and 
whether it be the effect of general liberty, or some other cause, I 
find many more clever men, men capable of conversing with 



368 



APPENDIX. 



propriety and fluency on all subjects relating to government, than 
I have met with anywhere in England. I have seen many of the 
members of Congress on their return from it, and, without 
exception, they seem to be men of first-rate ability, though some 
of them plain in their manners. With respect to myself, the 
difference is great indeed. In England I was an object of the 
greatest aversion to every person connected with government; 
whereas here they are those who show me the most respect. With 
you the Episcopal Church is above everything. In this city it 
makes a decent figure, but the Presbyterians are much above them, 
and the Governor (Clinton), who is particularly attentive to me, 
goes to the meeting-house. 

But the preachers, though all civil to me, look upon me with 
dread, and none of them have asked me to preach in their pulpits. 
This, however, does them no good. Several persons express a 
wash to hear me, and are ashamed of the illiberality of the 
preachers, and some are avowed Unitarians ; so that I am fully 
persuaded an Unitarian minister, of prudence and good sense, 
might do very well here. If I were here a Sunday or two more I 
would make a beginning, and I intend to return for this purpose. 
The greatest difficulty arises from the indifference of liberal- 
minded men as to religion in general ; they are so much occupied 
with commerce and politics. One man of proper spirit would be 
sufficient to establish a solid Unitarian interest ; and I am 
persuaded it will soon be done. As I am much attended to, and 
my writings, which are in a manner unknown here, begin to be 
inquired after, I will get my small pamphlets immediately printed 
here; and wherever I can get an invitation to preach I will go. 
With this view I shall carefully avoid all the party politics of the 
country, and have no other object besides religion and philosophy. 
Philadelphia will be a more favourable situation than this, and 
there I shall make a beginning. It will be better, however, to 
wait a little time, and not show much zeal at the first ; and as my 
coming here is much talked of, I shall reprint my Fast and 
Farewell Sermons. 

As it may serve to amuse you and Mrs. Lindsey, I will enclose 
copies of some Addresses, and my answers ; and also some letters 
from persons who are of a party opposite to the addressers, but 
equally friendly to me ; and I find I have given as much satisfac- 
tion to them by the caution I have observed in my answers, as 
to the addressers, who, however, I believe, are now well satisfied 



APPENDIX. 



369 



that I do not openly join any of their societies, though at first I 
am informed they were very desirous of it. The parties are the 
Federalists and Anti-federalists : the* former meaning the friends 
of the present system, with a leaning to that of England, and 
friendship with her ; the latter wishing for some improvements, 
leaning to the French system, and rather wishing for war. With 
a little more irritation the latter will certainly prevail. They are 
now, I believe, by far the most numerous, especially in the coun- 
try, though the other prevail in the towns, especially here. The 
people of Vermont on the one hand, and those of Kentucky 
on the other, can hardly be restrained from falling on the 
English and Spanish settlements, and the latter particularly seem 
disposed to break off from the Union rather than not have their 
way. 

The exchange is so greatly in favour of the drawer (near nine 
per cent.) that I am drawing for most of my money in England. 
On Mr. Chambers I have drawn for £300, which is very nearly 
what I have in his hands, and I have told him that the small 
difference on either side he may settle with you. On Mr. John- 
son I have drawn for £50. I wish you would mention this to 
them, lest the letters miscarry. 

As Dr. Disney desired me to write to him, and I had a parcel 
to deliver for him to Bishop Prevost, I inclose the letter for him 
in this packet to you. I have also written to Mr. Belsham, whom 
I hope, some time or other, to draw hither. He will tell you my 
scheme. But as I am going to Philadelphia, I shall soon know 
more on the subject. 

I was never more mortified than 1 now am at not having with 
me any of my small tracts in defence of the divine unity, as my 
being here leads many persons to wish to read what I have 
written on the subject. If Mr. Johnson has not sent the box of 
books (chiefly my own publications) that he was to forward to 
Philadelphia, desire him to do it the first opportunity. I shall 
reprint them, and I flatter myself they will produce a considerable 
effect. Indeed my coming hither promises to be of much more 
service to our cause than I had imagined. But time is necessary, 
and I am apt to be too precipitate. I want your cool judgment. 
You waited patiently a long time in London ; but what an 
abundant harvest have you had there ! 

Nothing can be more delightful than the weather is here at 
present, and I do not think the climate will be at all too hot for 

B B 



370 



APPENDIX. 



me. T have only two days more to stay here : to-day I dine with 
Mr. Bridges, a friend of Mr, Kemble's, and to-morrow with 
General Gates, whom I have seen often, and like very much. I 
have met him frequently, and he is particularly attentive to me, 
and was so to my son before I came. 

With my best respects to Mrs. Rayner and all friends, in 
which my wife joins, 

I am, dear friend, 
Yours and Mrs. Lindsey's most affectionately, 

J. Priestley. 

P.S. When you have done with the Addresses, &c. please to 
forward them to Mr. J. Wilkinson by his banker, Sir B. Hammet. 

No. 2. 

Philadelphia, June 24, 1794. 

Dear Friend, 

This is my third letter to you. The last was by the Hope, 
from New York. On Thursday last I arrived at this place. Our 
journey was very pleasant, and the aspect of the country better 
than I expected. This city is by no means so agreeable as New 
York ; but, upon the whole, more eligible than any other for my 
residence till our settlement be ready for me. With respect to 
religion, things are exactly in the same state here as in New York. 
Nobody asks me to preach, and I hear there is much jealousy and 
dread of me ; and on the whole I am not sorry for the circum- 
stance, as it offends many who have, on this account, the greater 
desire to hear me ; so that I have little doubt but that I shall 
form a respectable Unitarian society in this place. The alarm of 
the danger of Unitarianism has been sounded so long that it has 
ceased to be terrific to many; and I stand so well w r ith the country 
in other respects that I dare say I shall have a fair and candid 
hearing; and at my return from the Susquehannah, where I pro- 
pose to go the next week, I believe some place will be prepared for 
me. In the meantime I am printing an edition of my Appeal 
and Trial of Elwall, which will be ready, I am told, by the next 
Monday. Part of the impression will be sent to New York, where 
things are in as great forwardness as here. If I do not greatly 
deceive myself, I see a great harvest opening upon me ; and there 
is room for many labourers, but it will require great prudence and 
judgment at first. Also, those that come must not be discouraged 



APPENDIX. 



371 



at first appearances, and be able to support themselves, and at a 
greater expense than would be necessary in England ; and in New 
York or here, greater than in London itself. This unexpected 
expense makes a great proportion of the emigrants repent of their 
coming, the women especially, who do not easily find any society. 
Notwithstanding the flattering attention that is paid to me, I 
cannot help sometimes regretting the society I had in England. 
But I am fully satisfied that I did right to leave it, and I firmly 
believe that much good will be done here by my removal, and in 
this I rejoice. 

My wife will find much more difficulty than myself. All people 
complain of the difficulty of getting tolerable servants, and we find 
we acted unwisely in bringing any. The woman, for whose passage 
w r e paid twelve guineas, behaved in such a manner that my wife 
dismissed her the first week ; and the boy, for whose passage we 
paid the same, and at least ten pounds in fitting out, is run away, 
and for anything that we yet know, may have carried many things 
with him. We shall know more before night, when we shall 
examine the things that came from New York. 

The boy is since found ; he had taken nothing ; but as he was 
bent on going to sea we have let him go. 

I have seen Mr. P., who made a genteel appearance, and gave 
good reasons for his wife not having heard from him. He had 
written : his passage was uncommonly long and unfortunate ; and 
then an embargo was laid here on all shipping for England. 

I fear, too, that when this was heard of with you, an embargo 
would also be laid on ships going from England to America, and 
that this may be the reason why we have not yet heard from any 
body, and indeed have had no news of any kind from England. 
We must have patience; but we are very anxious to hear what 
passes on the continent of Europe. Here, both the Indians and 
the English are making encroachments; and if orders from England 
do not stop these proceedings, a war will be inevitable; and people 
in the back settlements are so eager for it that they can hardly be 
restrained even now. 

Since I wrote the former part of this letter I have almost deter- 
mined to make my residence in Northumberland, and spend a few 
months of the winter in this city. This will on many accounts be 
better than living chiefly here. The expense will be prodigiously 
less ; I shall have more leisure for all my pursuits, and I shall be, 
on the whole, of as much use in propagating Unitarianism as if I 

b b 2 



372 



APPENDIX. 



resided constantly in the town, I see so great a certainty of 
planting Unitarianism on this continent, that I wish you and Mr. 
Belsham would be looking out for proper persons to establish in 
New York and Philadelphia, and also to supply the College, which 
you may take for granted will be established at the place of my 
residence. A place of worship is building here by a society who 
call themselves Universal ists : they propose to leave it open to any 
sect of Christians three days in the week, but they want money to 
finish it. My friends think to furnish them with money, and 
engage the use of it for Sunday mornings. The society itself, I 
hear, intend to apply to me to open it ; which I shall gladly do. 
A person with a proper spirit and prudence may do great things 
here. Mr. H. was the most imprudent of men, and did apparently 
much harm here ; but eventually even that may be for the best. 
I find I have great advantages, and I hope to make a good use of 
them. 

I shall enclose an address to me from the Philosophical Society 
in this place, which is the only one that I have received ; and also 
the Preface to the American edition of my Appeal. Thompson is 
here, and superintends the office where it is printed. He will soon 
set up for himself. 

With all our respects, 
Yours and Mr. Lindsey's most affectionately, 

J. Priestley. 



A LETTER FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON, ESQ., PRESIDENT OF THE 
UNITED STATES, TO DR. PRIESTLEY, SOON AFTER HIS ELEC- 
TION TO THAT HIGH OFFICE. 

Washington, March 21, 1801. 

Dear Sir, 

I learnt some time ago that you were in Philadelphia, but 
that it was only for a fortnight, and supposed you were gone. It 
was not till yesterday I received information that you were still 
there ; had been very ill, but were on the recovery. I sincerely 
rejoice that you are so. Yours is one of the few lives precious to 
mankind, and for the continuance of which every thinking man 
must be solicitous ; bigots may be an exception. What an effort, 
my dear sir, of bigotry in politics and religion have we gone 
through ! The barbarians really flattered themselves they should 
be able to bring back the times of Vandalism, when ignorance 



APPENDIX. 



373 



put everything into the hands of power and priestcraft. All 
advances in science were proscribed as innovations; they pre- 
tended to praise and encourage education, but it was to be the 
education of our ancestors ; we were to look backwards, not for- 
wards, for improvement ; the President himself declaring in one 
of his answers to addresses, that we were never to expect to go 
beyond them in real science. This was the real ground of all 
the attacks upon you; those who live by mystery and charlatanerie, 
fearing you would render them useless by simplifying the Chris- 
tian philosophy, the most sublime and benevolent, but the most 
perverted system that ever shone on man, endeavoured to crush 
your well-earned and well-deserved fame; but it was the Lillipu- 
tians upon Gulliver. Oar countrymen have recovered from the 
alarm into which art and industry had thrown them ; science and 
honesty are replaced on their high ground ; and you, my dear sir, 
as their great apostle, are on its pinnacle. It is with heartfelt 
satisfaction, that in the first moments of my public action I can 
hail you with welcome to our land, tender you the homage of its 
respect and esteem, cover you under the protection of those laws 
which were made for the wise and the good, like you, and dis- 
claim the legitimacy of that libel on legislation, which, under the 
form of a law, was for some time placed among them. As the 
storm is now subsiding, and the horizon becoming serene, it is 
pleasant to consider the phenomenon with attention. We can 
no longer say there is nothing new under the sun ; for this w r hole 
chapter in the history of man is new; the great extent of our 
Republic is new ; its sparse habitation is new ; the mighty wave 
of public opinion, which has rolled over it, is new 7 ; but the most 
pleasing novelty is its so quickly subsiding, over such an extent 
of surface, to its true level again. The order and good sense 
displayed in this recovery from delusion, and in the momentous 
crisis which lately arose, really bespeak a strength of character 
in our nation which augurs well for the duration of our Republic. 
And I am much better satisfied now of its stability, than I was 
before it was tried. I have been, above all things, solaced by 
the prospect which opened on us in the event of a non-election 
of a President ; * in which case the federal government would 
have been in the situation of a clock or watch run down : there 
was no idea of force, nor of any occasion for it. A Convention, 

* The votes of the Senate were for some time equally divided between Mr. 
Jefferson and Mr, Burr. 



374 



APPENDIX. 



invited by the Republican members of Congress, with the virtual 
President and Vice-President, would have been on the ground in 
eight weeks, would have repaired the constitution where it was 
defective, and wound it up again. This peaceable and legitimate 
resource to which we are in the habit of implicit obedience, super- 
seding all appeal to force, and being always within our reach, 
shew T s a precious principle of self-preservation in our composition, 
till a change of circumstances shall take place, which is not 
within prospect at any definite period. But I have got into a 
long disquisition on politics, when I odIv meant to express my 
sympathy in the state of your health, and to tender you all the 
affections of public and private hospitality. I should be very 
happy indeed to see you here. I leave this about the 30th in- 
stant, to return about the 25th of April ; if you do not leave 
Philadelphia before that, a little excursion hither would help your 
health. I should be much gratified with the possession of a 
guest I so much esteem, and should claim a right to lodge you, 
should you make such an excursion. Accept the homage of my 
high consideration and respect, and assurances of affectionate 
attachment, 

Thomas Jefferson, 



FROM DR. PRIESTLEY TO MR. LINDSEY. 

Northumberland, April 15, 1803. 

Dear Friend, 

I am happy to hear by Mr. B. that your health is still good; 
and as his letter is dated the 1st of February, I hope you have 
got well over the winter. There is hardly anything that 1 wish 
for, or think of, more than the continuance of your life and 
health, that you may see the last of my labours, and I may hear 
your opinion of them. On this I have always laid more stress 
than on that of all the world besides; and if you die before me, 
I shall lose one of my most powerful stimuluses to exertion. As 
to philosophy, I do not now give much attention to it, though I 
do not wholly neglect it. With the good Dr. Heberden, Sir 
John Pringle, and many others, who in early life engaged in phi- 
losophical pursuits, but were real Christians, I think it natural as 
we draw nearer to a future and better world to think more of it, 
and to have our reading and pursuits directed more than ever 
towards it. 



APPENDIX. 



375 



For the same reason I think more of my departed friends, Mrs. 
Rayner, Dr. Price, Dr. Jebb, and others who have been my chief 
friends and benefactors, than before ; forming conjectures (wild 
ones no doubt) concerning our meeting and employment hereafter. 
Such speculations as these have at least the effect to make the 
thoughts of leaving the world, and our friends in it, less un- 
pleasant, indeed sometimes almost desirable. If the disciples of 
Jesus rejoiced so much at his resurrection, what will they do at his 
second coming, in his proper kingdom, and when all their friends 
will rise again, never to be separated any more ? And the firm 
faith that you and I have that even the wicked, after a state of 
wholesome discipline (and that not more severe than will be neces- 
sary) will be raised, in due time, to a state of happiness, greatly 
diminishes our concern on their account. 

Such reflections as these occur to me more particularly when I 
am not well, and my thoughts are less occupied with my pursuits. 
But though I had a pretty long relapse of bad health after my 
last to you, when I thought myself quite well, and to have re- 
covered my usual good state of health, I am now again, I thank 
God, pretty well, and nearly as busy as formerly. 

Since I wrote the above I have received a letter from Mr, 
Jefferson, on the subject of my pamphlet about Socrates, which I 
will copy, and send it you the next post. I wish I could send you 
all his letters ; but they are rather too long to copy, and a specimen 
or two may be sufficient. 

Yours and Mrs. Lindsey's most affectionately, 

J. Priestley. 



FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON, ESQ., PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED 
STATES, TO DR. PRIESTLEY, UPON HIS " COMPARATIVE VIEW 
OF SOCRATES AND JESUS." 

Washington, April 9, 1803. 

Dear Sir, 

While on a short visit lately to Monticello, I received from you 
a copy of your Comparative View of Socrates and Jesus, and I 
avail myself of the first moment of leisure after my return to 
acknowledge the pleasure I had in the perusal, and the desire it 
excited to see you take up the subject on a more extensive scale. 
In consequence of some conversations with Dr. Rush in the years 



376 



APPENDIX, 



1798-99, I had promised some day to write him a letter, giving 
him my view of the Christian system. I have reflected often on 
it since, and even sketched the outlines in my own mind. I 
should first take a general view of the moral doctrines of the most 
remarkable of the ancient philosophers, of whose ethics we have 
sufficient information to make an estimate : say, of Pythagoras, 
Epicurus, Epictetus, Socrates, Cicero, Seneca, Antoninus. I should 
do justice to the branches of morality they have treated well, but 
point out the importance of those in which they are deficient. I 
should then take a view of the Deism and ethics of the Jews, and 
show in what a degraded state they were, and the necessity they 
presented of a reformation. I should proceed to a view of the 
life, character, and doctrines of Jesus, who, sensible of the in- 
correctness of their ideas of the Deity, and of morality, endea- 
voured to bring them to the principles of a pure Deism, and juster 
notions of the attributes of God ; to reform their moral doctrines 
to the standard of reason, justice, and philanthropy, and to incul- 
cate the belief of a future state. This view would purposely omit 
the question of his divinity, and even of his inspiration. To do 
him justice, it would be necessary to remark the disadvantages his 
doctrines have to encounter, not having been committed to writing 
by himself, but by the most unlettered of men, by memory, long 
after they had heard them from him, when much was forgotten, 
much misunderstood, and presented in very paradoxical shapes. 
Yet such are the fragments remaining, as to show a master-work- 
man, and that his system of morality was the most benevolent and 
sublime probably that has been ever taught, and more perfect 
than those of any of the ancient philosophers. His character and 
doctrines have received still greater injury from those who pretend 
to be his special disciples, and who have disfigured and sophisti- 
cated his actions and precepts from views of personal interest, so as 
to induce the unthinking part of mankind to throw off the whole 
system in disgust, and to pass sentence as an impostor on the 
most innocent, the most benevolent, the most eloquent and 
sublime character that has ever been exhibited to man. This is 
the outline ; but I have not the time, and still less the information, 
which the subject needs. It will therefore rest with me in con- 
templation only. You are the person who of all others would do 
it best, and most promptly : you have all the materials at hand ; 
and you put together with ease. I wish you could be induced 
to extend your late work to the whole subject. I have not heard 



APPENDIX. 



377 



particularly what is the state of your health ; but as it has been 
equal to the journey to Philadelphia, perhaps it might encourage 
the curiosity you must feel to see, for once, this place, which 
nature has formed on a beautiful scale, and circumstances destined 
for a great one : as yet we are but a cluster of villages. We cannot 
offer you the learned society of Philadelphia, but you will have 
that of a few characters whom you esteem, and a bed and hearty 
welcome with one who will rejoice in every opportunity of testify- 
ing to you his high veneration and affectionate attachment. 

Th. Jefferson. 

Dr. Joseph Priestley. 



from dr. priestley to mr. lixdsey, containing remarks 
upon mr. jefferson's letter. 

Northumberland, April 23, 1803. 

Dear Friend, 

In my last I promised to send you a copy of Mr. Jefferson's 
letter on reading my pamphlet entitled " Socrates and Jesus com- 
pared." The above is that copy. He is generally considered as 
an unbeliever : if so, however, he cannot be far from us, and I 
hope in the way to be not only almost, but altogether what we are. 
He now attends public worship very regularly, and his moral 
conduct was never impeached. I should, on several accounts, be 
glad to make the visit he proposes, but my business will not admit 
of it. If I leave this place, either the printing of my works must 
be intermitted, or I must request the aid of Mr. C, which I am 
not fond of doing ; and though he does his best, I find he has not 
been sufficiently used to the work. 

dr. priestley's last letters to mr. lindsey, written a few 
weeks before his decease. 

No. 1. 

Northumberland, Nov. 4, 1803. 

Dear Friend, 

I cannot now expect to hear often from you, but I shall write as 
usual, as long as you or Mrs. Lindsey are living, provided I be 
living myself. But my health is such that I really do not expect 



378 



APPENDIX. 



to survive you. I have now, of several mouths, the same feelings 
that I had when I formerly had gall-stones ; but at the same time 
T had a difficulty in swallowing, which, as it varied, and sometimes 
disappeared, I hoped was nothing but a spasm in the oesophagus, 
near the entrance into the stomach ; but it is now constant, and it 
is painful to me to swallow anything ; and if I do not eat very 
slow, all that is in the oesophagus comes up; and not only that, 
but it fills again from the stomach, and this operation continues 
until the stomach is entirely empty. My guard against this is 
eating very slowly. For the last three months I have not been 
able to eat any flesh meat. I live on broth and vegetables, besides 
milk and mild cheese ; but I take even these with difficulty. I 
am thankful, however, that excepting while I eat, I have but little 
pain, though while I had gall-stones I had a good deal of pain, and 
sometimes very acute. The first symptom of this disorder I had 
about a year ago, but sometimes I had nothing of it. Of late, 
however, it has increased very much. But I have abundant 
reasons to be satisfied with life, and the goodness of God in it. 
Few have had so happy a lot as I have had, and I now see reason 
to be thankful for events which at the time were the most 
afflicting. 

As to my daughter, I cannot grieve on her account. She had 
nothing before her in this life but a prospect of increasing trouble, 
and I hope soon to meet her in more favourable circumstances. 
I am only concerned about the children, and I do not know what 
can be done for them. My only source of satisfaction, and it is a 
never-failing one, is my firm persuasion that every thing, and our 
oversights and mistakes among the rest, are parts of the great 
plan, in which every thing in time will appear to have been 
ordered and conducted in the best manner. When I hear my 
son's children crying, I consider that we who are advanced in life 
are but children ourselves, and as little judges of what is good for 
ourselves or others. 

As you were pleased with my comparison of Socrates and Jesus, 
I have begun to carry the same comparison to all the heathen 
moralists, and I have all the books that I want for the purpose, 
except Simplicius and Arrian on Epictetus, and them I hope 
to get from a library in Philadelphia : lest, however, I should 
fail there, I wish you or Mr. Belsham would procure and send 
them from London. While I am capable of any thing I cannot 



APPENDIX. 



379 



be idle, and I do not know that I can do anything better. This, 
too, is an undertaking that Mr. Jefferson recommends to me. 

With every good wish, I am 
Yours and Mrs. Lindsey's most affectionately, 

J. Priestley. 



No. 2, 

Northumberland, Dec. 19, 1803. 

Dear Sir, 

I am once more made happy by the receipt of yours of the 9th 
of September. I value your letters more than gold, but I am 
sensible it is unreasonable to expect them from you, difficult as it 
must now be to you to write. But a single line will suffice. 

I thank God I begin to recover from an illness which has been 
very near carrying me off. It was ill understood by our physi- 
cians at first, and their prescriptions did me harm ; but now I 
hope I am in a good way, though exceedingly weak, and my feet 
and ancles much swelled from that cause. I live now almost 
altogether on animal food, which I was used to think would never 
agree with me ; but still I cannot eat any fibrous flesh meat, only 
the gelatinous parts, such as calves' feet ; and for some days past 
I have eat nothing but oysters, which agree with me better than 
anything else. On this, or soup or broth, with a dish of tea, I 
live altogether. But by this means I am so much recovered, that 
I hope soon to be able to eat as I used to do. I should not, how- 
ever tire you with my complaints ; but this encourages me to hope 
that I may live a few years longer, so as to finish the work I am 
printing and composing, which is my utmost wish. 
. With the work that I am now composing I go on much faster 
and better than I expected; so that in two or three months, if my 
health continue as it now is, I hope to have it ready for the press ; 
though I shall hardly proceed to print it till we have dispatched 
the Notes. It is upon the same plan with that of " Socrates and 
Jesus compared," considering all the more distinguished of the 
Grecian sects of philosophy, till the establishment of Christianity 
in the Roman empire. If you liked that pamphlet, I flatter my- 
self you will like this. I hope it is calculated to show, in a pecu- 
liarly striking light, the great advantage of revelation, and that it 
will make an impression on candid unbelievers, if they will read, 



380 



APPENDIX. 



But I find few that will trouble themselves to read anything on 
the subject; which, considering the great magnitude and interest- 
ing nature of the subject, is a proof of a very improper state of 
mind, unworthy of a rational being. 

The next thing I wish to do is to assist in the publication of a 
whole Bible from the several new translations of particular books, 
smoothing and correcting them where I can. I shall propose it to 
some of our booksellers, cheerfully giving my own labour to so use- 
ful a work. If anything remain of the subscription to my present 
publication, I shall spend it on others, particularly on the Alpha- 
betical Index to the Bible, which has been some time completely 
ready for the press. 

I wish this may come safely to your hands ; but I dread the ap- 
proaching contest, which may throw every thing into confusion. It 
has probably taken place before this time. But there is a sove- 
reign ruler, and he, we cannot doubt, will bring good out of all 
evil. 

The excellent character and behaviour of my daughter is a great 
consolation to me in the thoughts of her death. 

Hoping still to have the great satisfaction of hearing from you 
a few times more, I am 

Yours and Mrs. Lindsey's most affectionately, 

J. Priestley. 

No. 3. 

Northumberland, Jan. 16, 1804. 

Dear Friend, 

Having just received a box of books from Mr. Johnson, after 
I had given up all expectation of them, I beg you would make an 
apology for the impatience I expressed about them, and my dis- 
satisfaction with respect to his conduct. In my situation such 
books are invaluable, especially as my deafness confines me in a 
manner at home, and my extreme weakness prevents my making 
any excursions. Winter also keeps me from my laboratory, so 
that reading and composing are my sole occupation and amuse- 
ment. Here, too, I have not the convenience of borrowing books. 

This situation, however, is not without its advantages. I have 
abundant leisure, and I have endeavoured to make the most of it. 
I have now finished and transcribed for the press my Comparison 



APPENDIX. 



381 



of the Principles of the Grecian Philosophers with those of Reve- 
lation, and with more ease, and more to my own satisfaction, than 
I expected. They who liked my pamphlet entitled " Socrates and 
Jesus compared" will not, I flatter myself, dislike this work. It 
has the same object, and completes the scheme. It has increased 
my own sense of the unspeakable value of revelation, and must, I 
think, that of every person who will give due attention to the 
subject. 

We are all anxious to hear the result of the threatened invasion. 
I have some faint hopes that it will not be undertaken, at least 
upon England. What confusion and distress would it not occa- 
sion in the most favourable issue ! God preserve you, my friend, 
from the general calamity ! How enviable is our situation com- 
pared to yours ! Our only consolation must arise from regarding 
the hand of God in all events, confident that the final issue will be 
right and good. 

Yours and Mrs. Lindsey's most affectionately, 

J. Priestley. 

N.B. This is the last letter which Dr. Priestley wrote to his 
venerated and beloved friend. That truly great and excellent 
man, whose active spirit was incessantly engaged in devising or 
performing something for the interest of truth and virtue, was re- 
leased from his labours and sufferings on the 4th of February fol- 
lowing, a little more than a fortnight after writing this letter. 



No. XIII. 

The following is a Catalogue of Mr. Lindsey's Publications : — 

1. A Farewell Address to the Parishioners of Catterick. 

2. An Apology on resigning the Vicarage of Catterick. 

3. A Sequel to the Apology. 

4. A Sermon preached at the Opening of the Chapel in Essex 
Street, April 17, 1774. 

5. The Book of Common Prayer Reformed for the Use of the 
Chapel in Essex Street, with Hymns. 

6. A Sermon preached in Essex Street on Opening the New 
Chapel, March 29, 1778. 



382 



APPENDIX. 



7. Two Dissertations. First, On the Preface to St. John's 
Gospel : — Secondly, On Praying to Christ. 

8. The Catechist, or An Inquiry concerning the only true God, 
and Object of Worship. 

9. An Historical View of the State of the Unitarian Doctrine 
and Worship. 

10. Vindicia Priestleiance. An Address to the Students of 
Oxford and Cambridge. 

11. A Second Address to the same. 

12. An Examination of Mr. Robinson's Plea for the Divinity of 
Christ, 

13. A List of false Readings and Mistranslations of the Scrip- 
tures. 

14. Conversations on Christian Idolatry. 

15. A Sermon on Forms of Prayer. 

16. A Sermon addressed to the Congregation in Essex Street on 
resigning the Pastoral Office among them. 

17. Conversations on the Divine Government, showing that 
every thing is from God and for Good to all. 1802. 

18. Sermons with appropriate Prayers annexed, 2 vols. Printed 
for J. Johnson and Co., St. Paul's Churchyard. 



Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, Milford Lane, Strand, Loudon, W.C. 



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